


Starshine: A Dr. Aphra Story

by AKyloDarkly83 (ksquared83)



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dark Humor, Dr. Aphra - Freeform, F/F, Force Conception, Kidnapping, Maternal Angst, Multi, Post TLJ, Pre TFA Star Wars, Rey's Mom, Rey's parents, Rogue Archaeologist, Speculative fiction, child endangerment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:22:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ksquared83/pseuds/AKyloDarkly83
Summary: Notorious rogue archaeologist Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra is trying to survive in the post Empire galaxy.  With the New Republic in power, the Emperor and Darth Vader dead, she finds herself able to buy and sell questionable artifacts to equally questionable people with somewhat more freedom, until one day something both terrifying and extremely unprofitable happens.She finds out she's pregnant.Shocked and confused as to how it happened, considering males 'aren't her type' the good Doctor goes on a mission of her own to learn the truth of her condition, but more importantly what to do about it.  She's never had a great relationship with her father, and she hardly got to know her mother but now she faces the dilemma of having to choose between her personal self-preservation or seeing it through to perhaps discover what fate, if at all, has in store for her.





	1. A Rough Morning

I probably should have realized our relationship was over when Selly started yelling at me, but I've never really been the best at judging people.

"I can't believe this Chelli, after everything we've been through, this is all I am to you? Cheap dinner and a warm bed for the night?"

Her montrails flailed around her red skin as she furiously put her clothes back on, but I won't lie, it was all kinda hot.

"Come on, Sel, you know me better than that! I thought you accepted the fact that I'm a disgusting human being by now. Why are you acting so surprised?" I was still lying in bed under the warm sheets. Why bother getting up if it wasn't necessary, right?

"You know, I used to think your self-deprecating tone of voice was just a cry for help but it's plainly obvious that you truly don't give a flying kriff about anything or anyone! This was a mistake, an absolutely terrible mistake and I have only myself to blame, I suppose."

"No, babe, don't say that I had a great time last night! I thought you did too."

"Well, I guess you're right about one thing, Dr. Aphra, you're a terrible judge of character on top of being a selfish nerf herder."

I laughed at that, though it probably wasn't the best thing to do right at that moment. "Oh please, I'm so much more huggable than a nerf, Sel. Look, I'm sorry okay, I want you to stay, no really! I know this great place around the corner that we can get breakfast. Please, don't leave..."

Selly jabbed a finger at me as she picked up her bag. "Gee, I hate to disappoint you, but I think I'd rather keep my dignity intact than wasted another minute with a greedy, self-serving pirate like you. Good day, Chelli; I sincerely hope you have the life that you deserve."

And with that, yet another off and on again relationship crashed and burned, leaving me alone in my comfy bed with no one to cuddle with. I stared at the bulkhead above as I cursed myself for a fool.

"Why are you like this, Chelli? Why do you have to burn every bridge you cross?" For a moment I actually considered crying but I remembered I wasn't a weak moof milker and that I actually only felt terrible because I had to throw up.

"Oh, what the hell?" I tossed my sheets off and rushed myself to the refresher where I promptly hurled last nights cheap date dinner into the toilet. I was half dressed in a sweat-soaked shirt and underwear and my head was pounding so I was keenly aware that I wasn't the most presentable person in the galaxy, but I still called for my droid.

"Dee, could you come in here please?"

DX-5P0 shuffled into the bedroom a moment later with her usual over-the-top chipperness. "Yes, mistress Aphra? I see your intimate friend has left. Is everything all right?"

"No, Dee, it really isn't," I admitted, though I doubted she would take my meaning, so I clarified, "Could you just, do me a favor and run a full body medical scan on me or something? It's been a week of puking my guts up and I'm starting to think it's not my choice of substandard fast food. I really hope I didn't catch some alien plague."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic mistress. I will have to ask you to come over to my charging staging as that is where my accessory modules are located. I am currently not equipped for medical testing since that time you barely escaped the Broken Star pirate gang."

"Right, yeah that. Okay, fine, just let me see if I can stand up at least." Fortunately, I was able to accomplish that relatively easily, and promptly learned the joys of puking while standing. Good job, Chelli, you're really starting your day off right!

To be honest, I probably should have suspected something was wrong sooner, but being my usual carefree self as well as a beacon of false confidence, I had no reason to think that anything could possibly be happening to me. Boy, was I wrong.

"Why, I do think congratulations are in order, Mistress Aphra," Dee said after processing the scan. I looked up at her with a quizzical look, not quite understanding what it was she was saying until she added, "It would appear that you are pregnant."

...

.......

...........

" **Wuuuut?** "

"You're pregnant, Mistress Aphra! Isn't this wonderful?"

I was so stunned, I couldn't even find words, so I spent a solid minute stammering like an idiot until finally, I was able to get it out.

"No. No, it really isn't, Dee. Are your circuits fried or what? Is this a joke? How the kriff am I pregnant?"

"Really, Mistress I don't think I need to explain it to a woman your age, but obviously when a man ejaculates..."

"Blarrrrhhgh, I know how babies are made, Dee! I'm asking how the kriff am _I pregnant?_ You do know that chicks are my type, right? Females generally don't have baby making fluids of any kind the last time I checked. I mean, yeah I've seen some cute guys in my life but none that ever made me go, 'yeah, I want him to put his diiyeeeaahh in my whaaaaa,' ya know?" I said as I flailed my arms.

I'll be honest, I may have been freaking out a little by this point. It's not every day you wake up to your typical one night stand break up with a member of the same sex and then find out you're pregnant. I've had some crazy adventures in my time, but this by far had to be the craziest one.

"Mistress Aphra, please try and calm yourself... for the baby's sake."

"For the baby's... uggghhh, no, no! This isn't happening, this _can't_ be happening." I was pacing a hole in my floor grates as I tried to make sense of it all. There had to be another explanation, or a mistake or something, I just had to find out where.

"Okay, Dee, are you sure that medical suite of yours is functioning properly? I know sometimes secondhand equipment can get banged up and short out some circuits and believe me, the kind of equipment I acquire has seen it's fair share of better days."

"My medical suite is operating at peak performance, I assure you, Mistress."

I chewed on that for a moment. "Okay, no offense, Dee... but I think I need to get a second opinion."

"Well, really, Mistress," Dee scoffed, "Fine, be that way. There's cleaning to be done around this fathier pen anyway." She quickly shuffled off without giving me a second look.

"Great, that's bridge number two I've burnt in the past hour," I muttered.

I didn't have any more time to waste moping about my poor life choices, so I grabbed my vest, strapped on my boots and disembarked to find a qualified medical droid. Nar'shadda was a happening place even at the height of the Empire's rule but now that the New Republic was in charge, there was a considerable increase of free trade and legitimate businesses popping up along the Strip. Naturally, I avoided these clinics like the plague and went straight to the black market droids, who I knew I could mostly trust.

_::Some time later::_

"Congratulations, you're pregnant, Ms. Aphra." The modified B1 Medical droid droned.

I stared blankly at a blaster bolt divot in the back wall that I desperately wanted to crawl inside of and die.

"This can't be happening. I can't be... a mom... I'm not mom material, in fact, I'm sure somebody somewhere has already written a law specifically stating 'Chelli Lona Aphra is hereby forbidden to ever be a mom!'"

"Curious, I am aware of no such law in all of Nar'shadda," said the droid.

I blinked at him. "That was me being facetious. Thanks for your time." I got off the exam table and walked toward the front desk.

"You are most welcome, ma'am... that'll be 350 credits, payable all at once or in installments if you wish."

I whipped around and glared. "Are you serious?"

"Payment upon services rendered," he said, pointing to a sign that said the same.

I growled in annoyance. "Fiiiine!" Then I grabbed my credits and dropped them off at the front desk where they handed me a copy of my test results. "This is a great slagging waste of 350 creds, you mechanical grave robbing, sleemo sucking..."

Once I was back on the street, I found myself wandering in a daze. I had no idea what I was going to do. I knew I couldn't have this kid, there was no way in the galaxy that was going to happen. I knew I had options, but there was only one that was sure to be quick and final. I headed toward another clinic I'd heard about just down the street where I knew they understood the importance of discretion.

_::Several minutes of moping later::_

"So, to put your mind at ease, Ms. Aphra, the method of termination is quick with some mild discomfort, but that is only to be expected," the specialist said as he held up an implement that looked like a blaster mated with a gonk droid. He gave the trigger a quick squeeze to let me hear the vacuum sound that sounded too much like a dying mynock for me to have anything to do with.

"Oh dear sweet, mother of the Force... you are not sticking that thing inside of me!"

He laughed politely, "Oh, don't worry ma'am, I can assure you that it will solve your little problem quickly and neatly. It really isn't as painful as some people make it out to be." Then his laugh turned to a maniacal giggling before he coughed and said, "Now, if you'll please remove your trousers."

"Yeah, no. I'm... you know what, I'm good, I'm better than good in fact." I got off the table and tossed a hundred cred chit to the 'good doctor'. I still didn't know what he planned to do with the extra arm coming out of his side, but I decided it was best if I didn't ask. I left without looking back but I sulked the entire way because I still didn't have an answer.

I was lost. Even as I ate myself into a food coma oblivion at a nearby diner, a thousand thoughts swam through my brain. How am I going to make money? How can I do my job if I'm weighed down by a belly full of baby that won't take no for an answer? If I carry it to term, what am I going to do, am I going to give it up or am I going to keep it? I couldn't handle the pressure anymore and this time I actually did break down and cry.

"Oh God," I said with sudden realization. "My dad is going to flip!" That was the only thing that held me together long enough to pay my bill and return to my ship. 

_::More time and considerable panic later::_

Sure enough, as soon as I got home and placed the holo call, my dad reacted pretty much exactly as I thought he would.

"Pregnant? Chelli, sweetie that's wonderful news!" He glowed.

I sighed in pure frustration. "Why is everyone saying that? No, no dad, it isn't! Look, I knew you and mom had high hopes for me and all but I thought my entire life of bad choices would have crushed those hopes by now and also have you not noticed the fact that I am literally freaking out right now?"

"I'm sorry for expressing my joy, dear, I know you have to maintain your facade as a 'merciless, ass-kicking' rogue archaeologist and all that, but still this is happy news."

My shoulders slumped with disdain. "Dad, you don't understand. I'm pregnant and I have no idea how I got that way! No, I didn't suddenly express interest in men, no I didn't inject a baby into myself for a good time, no I wasn't drugged and knocked up at some sleazy bar. I literally woke up one morning and 'bam' I have a parasite growing inside of me."

"That is rather odd when you put it that way," he said thoughtfully.

"You think? Look, all I'm asking is this. Have you ever come across anything in your research, any stories or accounts of 'miraculous baby making' or something? There has to be a reason."

"Hmm, now that you mention it, I do recall some a few instances where such a thing was said to occur. I think maybe the Jedi made reference to some prophecy or some such nonsense, but I'll have to look into it."

"Well since the Empire's gone, Vader and the Emperor are dead, I'm sure you can get access to that kind of information now. Right?"

He nodded agreeably. "Indeed, yes. I'll arrange for a trip to the archives as soon as I can." He hesitated a moment before adding, "But, uh, as for the child. Have you made any... decisions about what you want to do?"

I knew exactly what he was asking, so I wasn't mad, but I was still annoyed.

He interjected, "Of course, I will respect your decision and support you in any way I can, Chelli. That you can be sure of."

"Dad I... considered it. I went to a clinic to have it 'taken care of' but I just didn't like the vibes I was getting, so I left. Also, I think the doctor was some kind of pervert, but that's beside the point."

"Ah, I see."

"Do you though? I can't deal with this right now, it's all so sudden. A part of me wants to just get it over with and wash my hands of it, but the other part of me, the curious part, wants to know 'why me?' Why is this happening to Chelli Lona Aphra at this point in her life? Is it a blessing, a curse; am I being punished by the cosmos or what? Yeah, I guess I can just give the kid up for adoption and get on with my life... but then I'll be wandering aimlessly with the question still in the back of my mind. Why?"

Dad at least had the courtesy to look conflicted over my dilemma, I'll give him that. "I understand your concerns. It is a perplexing question with undoubtedly difficult answers. As I said, I will support you no matter what, and I'll try to learn what I can in the meantime."

I realized that was about all I could expect from this conversation, so I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Okay, I hear ya. Thanks for at least hearing me out."

"Anytime, sweetheart."

I ended the call and properly sulked. I was alone with a snooty droid and a zygote growing inside of me that I had no idea how to care for and no idea how it got there. I decided that only sensible thing to do now... was to pretend it wasn't happening.

So that's what I did. As the months went by I just told myself I wasn't pregnant, just getting fat. In fact, I reprogrammed Dee so that she couldn't even say the 'P' word. When she gave me my checkup scans, she said, "You're 6 months and 15 days fat, Ms. Aphra," and "congratulations on reaching your third trimester of fatness, it won't be long now!"

Naturally, I had to make some adjustments as I went. The closer I got to my due date, Dee brought up the topic of my 'mucus plug'. I promptly gagged and replaced that word in her vocabulary with 'drain stopper' so that I could at least eat when she rambled on about what to expect once the contractions hit.

I wasn't idle throughout my term though, I kept spacin' and racin' with the rich snobs who paid big bucks for rare treasures. The money was alright considering the New Republic had loosened restrictions on trading 'forbidden' Jedi artifacts and what not, so at least I had a nice comfy nest egg built up for me. I even managed to convince Black Krrsantan to help me shake down some deadbeats who owed me a lot of money and of course he was amused by my 'predicament', to which I told him to stuff it on multiple occasions. Then one night I felt something give way inside of me.

"Oh slagging kriff, not now," I cried out as I woke to find myself soaked in my bed sheets. Fortunately, Dee was already there.

"Oh my, mistress Aphra, it appears your water has broken. I will ready the speeder to take you to the nearest medical facility."

"Ugh, fine just make it fast. Oh God, I feel it coming," the pain hit me soon after.

The trip to the clinic was a blur of wind, sewer smelling streets and pain, but once the medical droids ushered me into a room and gave me those sweet painkillers, I was floating by, until I had to push.

"Gaaghghg, kriffin' sonuva... why would any woman in her right mind willingly do this to themselves?" I cursed and screamed while the droids kept pestering me to 'breath' and relax then 'push again' so I did just that.

"Ugghhh, I swear if someone secretly knocked me up I'm going to put a bounty on their head so large, the Hutts will go after them!" I growled at the ceiling as Dee and the medical droid exchanged words in unintelligible droid language. And then, after I don't how many hours of agony, I heard the most awful sound in the galaxy, a crying baby.

"Congratulations, Ms. Aphra, it's a girl and she looks quite healthy," the medical droid said as he took care of the umbilical and washed her up.

I was ready to pass out from the exertion as I leaned back against the bed. The kid had a set of lungs on her, I'll give her that, but I pushed that out of my mind, it would be easier to let her go that way.

"Would you like to hold her?" The droid said as it walked back over to me.

I didn't even look in their direction. "No, I'm not..." I choked on the words as I said them, "I'm not keeping it. Just take it away. Please."

"Oh, Mistress Aphra, but the child is so precious," Dee said with understandable disappointment. To be fair, I couldn't blame her.

Despite all my bravado over the last 9 months, now that the moment was finally here I felt just as disappointed in myself having said the words out loud, but I knew it was the right decision. Wasn't it?

"The kid deserves someone better than me to raise it. I'm not the 'mom' type, Dee, you know this."

"But, you don't actually know that unless you try, Mistress."

The kid was still crying and I was getting a lump in my throat, but I knew I had to stay strong. I knew if I so much as looked at it, I'd be done for. Again, that damn question was haunting me. Why?

The medical droid interjected, "There is no shame in your decision Ms. Aphra. Many families have expressed interest in adopting. I have no doubt the child will find a loving home." He turned to leave with the kid and I swear the crying only intensified as if she knew she'd just been rejected. For some reason beyond my understanding, that did it for me. I didn't realize I was crying too until I turned to look at the droid.

"No, wait! Please, come back. Let me at least look at her."

"Very well," the droid said as he returned to my bedside. The kid was wrapped up in a blanket and red-faced as she screamed away. She was so tiny.

I hadn't intended to hold her, but I reached for her anyway and the droid slid her into my hands. Her body was so small and warm, I actually kind of froze as I stared in amazement. I held her like she was some ancient artifact that might break if I gripped her too hard.

"Wow... who are you, little one?" I said with genuine curiosity. To my surprise, her crying slowed and she seemed to calm down.

"Mistress Aphra, if you so wish, it is recommended to hold the child directly to your skin for bonding purposes. Also, it may calm her more; she's just had a frightful ordeal, you can imagine."

I glanced up at Dee, "She just had a frightful ordeal?"

Dee gave me a look, "Ah yes, I do suppose you both have had a trying day. Still, I'm sure she just wants to be held."

I looked at the kid again who was still sobbing but I pulled her in, unwrapped her blanket and put her against my chest. "Hey, little babe, it's alright. See, I've got you." I was actually surprised by how warm she felt against me and doubly surprised by how good it felt. I thought about my mom and wondered what it must have been like when she had me. What did she see when she looked down at the tiny bundle in her arms? What must it have been like to have so much hope for the future of her little girl... before I went and ruined it?

I stared down at the squirming tangle of arms and chubby fingers and understood. It was a fresh start, she could be anything or nothing at all; the possibilities really were endless. For right now she was just sleeping, comforted by the fact that her mom was holding her, that I was holding her. I had to smile at that.

Dee started quietly singing an old lullaby from my home-world when the B1 said, "Have you chosen a name for the child? I have a registry of over 7 billion names from 4 million different races if you would like me to offer some suggestions."

I noticed a part of the song Dee was singing then, a refrain I hadn't really thought about before.

_No matter how dark the night, I will be your guiding light._

_When all is bad or otherwise fine, I will be with you 'till the end of time._

_For when your way is lost and you cannot find, I will be your ray of starshine._

That was it. I knew who she was now. "That won't be necessary, I think I just found a name."

I snuggled her close and whispered into her ear.

"Welcome to the galaxy, Rey. I'm Chelli; I'm your mom."

 


	2. A Junkyard Called Jakku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adapting to her new life as a single parent, Dr. Aphra continues to make deals buying and selling questionably obtained relics. One such deal leads her to the galaxy's junkyard Jakku where an unexpected turn of events puts her and infant Rey in grave danger.

So, despite the abundance of babies throughout the galaxy, it turns out there wasn't actually an instruction manual for them; the same was true for how to be a mom. Of course, there was plenty of literature and holovids but since most of them involved species with multiple arms and eye stalks, I had to make do with what I could find in the depths of the Holo-Net.

Being a new mom was a struggle to be sure, and I could definitely do without the crying at all hours of the night, but somehow, every time I picked up my little bean she always managed to restore feeling to my cold, dead and villainous heart. My dad was excited, of course, and actually managed to block out a part of his schedule to stop by soon and meet the newest and most surprising member of the Aphra clan.

Black Krrsantan was... less enthusiastic, but since I'd invited him for a job I was putting together he tolerated it and kept his furry mouth shut, most of the time. Of course, Dee was actually finding a use for her 'nanny protocols' that didn't involve scooping me up off the bathroom floor in the mornings and dragging me to the shower to wash up. All in all, my life was kind of alright, but I didn't let that ruin my profit margin, no way.

"So, Minister, I take it you've read over my offer and have come to a conclusion?" I said to the holoprojection of Exen Gartuul.

There was an uncomfortably long pause before the Bith fumbled for words. "Doctor Aphra, I really don't think is appropriate for a business discussion!"

"What the hell are you talking about? That's the best deal you're ever gonna get for this junk," I shot back.

He sputtered, "Not the deal, Ms. Aphra the, the... your child!"

I glanced down at Rey who currently had a mouth full of breast, which of course I knew going into this meeting, so I feigned ignorance. "Oh, right my kid. What can I say, she's hungry and I don't get to decide when okay?"

"Maybe we should discuss this some other time," he grumbled.

"Hey, kriff that man! I blew a lot of resources getting these obelisks and you're just going to turn away because I'm nursing my child? What kind of intolerant puff bag are you?"

"Dr. Aphra, please, I did not mean..."

"Hey, hold up! Are you... staring?"

"What, no!" He said with obvious shock.

"You _are_ staring at me! I just saw it. What kind of sicko are you, man? I'm trying to feed my kid and you're getting off on it! Maybe you're right, maybe I should take my offer and try again at a date to be specified." I motioned to end the call when he protested with flailing hands. 

Got him.

"No, no, that won't be necessary, Doctor. I apologize, of course, but uh, our 'client' is very fond of these objects and has agreed to your terms. We are more than ready to move forward with payment upon finalizing the deal."

I raised my brow in satisfaction. "Well, that's good to know, Minister. Alright, I'll have my guy get in touch with your guy and they'll arrange the date for ya'. How's that sound?"

He sat back in his chair, visibly relaxed. "That would be... splendid, Doctor. Thank you for this opportunity."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, oh and also, Minister... stop staring."

"W-what, I am not..."

I ended the transmission with a click and a smile. Then I spun in my chair, "Yes, another one down."

By then, Rey had passed out in my arms, so I pulled my shirt closed and shifted her to my other arm. "You, little one, are going to make me rich, I know it." That's when uncle Krssanty growled a comment from the back of the room. 

Shocked, I spun around and glared at him.

"No, I did not rig my little girl up with explosives! Hey, those tookas were very special to me but they served a purpose, so NO, not the same!"

He laughed his Wookie laugh and I clutched her closer to me. "Don't let the mean furball frighten you like that. Mommy's got you and I won't let anything happen to you, nuh-uh!" I kissed her on the head but she was out like a light, so I put her down in her crib for Dee to watch.

"As for you," I jabbed a finger at Krrsantan, "You've got the goods and the deets right?"

He growled an acknowledgment.

"Good, it should be clean. These guys are semi-legit, so bring the case, grab the creds, don't stab me in the back and run off again and most importantly come back here and we both get paid. Simple, right?"

He roared, apparently taking offense to the backstabbing remark, even if it was mostly true, but he agreed.

"Sweet, you go and do that while I arrange some more meetings. My lil' Rey of starshine is getting bigger every day and I need more cute outfits to put her in."

The furball barked a laugh as he pulled out the crate to bring to the Minister, then he left without further comment.

That's pretty much how my life went for the first year. I dealt with intermediaries and museums among other unsavory third parties to buy and sell artifacts of varying degrees of authenticity mostly just so I could feed and clothe my kid in adorable outfits but also to re-arm and resupply my ship for more dangerous trips.

Motherhood wasn't a cakewalk but it was making me soft and that was costing me money. I had to get back into the field, but I had to pick and choose my trips this time instead of just grabbing what I could get and shoot my way out. I had a kid to think about after all and there was no way I was just going to leave her alone on the ship to get blown up by some pirate scum or angsty Sith Lord wannabee or something, so I compromised.

"Boots, check," I said into the mirror as I moved to buckle my holster to my hip.

"Holster and hand cannon, check." I slid my blaster into place.

"Ion grenades, check." I had two of them dangling off my belt.

"My little bean," I looked down at Rey, who was tightly harnessed to my chest. She glanced up at me, wide-eyed and freckle-faced, as she let out one of her adorable giggles.

"Double check," I kissed her on the forehead and reached for my knapsack. It was time to get down to business.

The Ark Angel 2 had already set down in the dust bowl that doubled for a landing field, but even I didn't expect it to be so damn hot out when I lowered the boarding ramp. Stepping out into the blazing sun gave me my first good look at this dusty rock.

"Ugh, so this is Jakku, huh? What a hole." Rey seemed to agree because she sneezed all over me thanks to the dust blowing around us. I put a beanie hat on her to protect her from the sun and headed for the outpost. From what I gathered, it used to be run by Niima the Hutt until shortly after the Empire bit it in the battle of Jakku. Now it was just a junkyard.

"Oh, this planet is horrid. I'm going to need multiple oil baths to get all this sand out of my gears when this is done," Dee complained as she shuffled along beside me.

"Don't worry, we're only going to be here for a hot click once my business is wrapped up. Just make sure your upgrades are ready and active."

"You know I don't like these particular upgrades, right, mistress? I'm a housekeeper, not a mercenary."

I shot her a look, "That's why they won't suspect anything. Relax, I learned some tricks from Triple Zero, minus the egomaniacal need to take over the galaxy."

"Ugh, that horrible murder bot makes my gears seize. You did the galaxy a favor by ridding it of him and his little ballistic companion."

"Yeah, well... it was them or me. I'm always going to choose me, remember that." I glanced down at Rey then quickly added, "Unless of course, it's you my little starshine bean. I'll always choose you first, I promise." I kissed her again, she drooled bubbles of comprehension at me and I kept walking.

Coming to the central pavilion of what looked like a market, I stepped up to an ugly flesh sack with a mouth standing behind a grated window.

"You, Unkar Plutt?" I asked flatly.

He gave me a condescending look, "I might be. Who's asking? You and your droid look too shiny to be from 'round here. You got business or what?" He looked down at Rey and added, "You know, if you want to get that brat off your hands; I can make you a good deal. 300 portions."

I gaped at him both because of his audacity and the fact that I didn't know what a 'portion' was.

"Are you kidding me? I'm not giving up my kid, she's not for sale. I'm Aphra, I'm here to meet with this guy." I pulled up a holo of my client.

"Ahh, you're that Doctor he keeps going on about. Fine, you see that fancy tent back there with the silly tassles on it? That's him; he's only been set up for the week, so best to catch him now before he moves on."

"Gotcha." I started to walk in that direction when I stopped to ask, "So, just between us, do you always buy and sell children here?"

He shrugged, "Not as much as I'd like, but I need the help and they can get in small spaces."

I gagged. "What kind of backwoods slave stop is this?"

He jabbed a meaty finger at me. "Hey, I don't come to your planet and criticize your practices."

"Good point," I agreed and left.

The client's tent was as gaudy as it was large but I had business to conduct, so I conducted.

"Ahhh, Ms. Aphra, a pleasure to see you in the flesh," Reek Colevan hissed through his serpentine lips.

"Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time, after all," I said as I sauntered toward the center of the tent.

He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "Please, make yourself comfortable and, uh..." he adjusted his goggles when he noticed Rey strapped to my chest. "Is that uh, a child?"

I looked down at her and booped her head. "Yes, it is, kind sir. This is my little bean and negotiating partner, Rey."

"Ahhh, of course..." he gave his guard a look of confusion before continuing. "So, anyway, the tablets of Rachna Aroth..."

"Yes, the tablets, that is indeed what I'm here for."  I pulled up the chair and took a seat.

In typical swindler fashion, the dealer and I haggled out terms and assurances and blah, blah, blah, but ultimately we came to the inevitable stalemate on price, which I was prepared for, of course.

"Really, Doctor Aphra, you can't expect me to let such a treasure go for so small a price. It's downright laughable that you'd even ask!"

"I wasn't finished, Colevan," I said with a finger to the sky. "You accept my price and I'll pay you back in other ways."

His slit eyes raised in excitement, "Oh, is that so?"

"Not those ways, sleemo! You're not even my type and hello, I have a kid to take care of! No, I'm offering you my services on location and retrieval."

He shrugged indifferently, "Pfft, I can hire any archaeologist for that."

I leaned in closer, making Rey gurgle with delight, "Possibly, but I'm not just 'any' archaeologist. I'm sure you've heard some things about me. I operate in that delightfully grey area between legitimate archaeology and dubious legality, but because of that, I have a line on some relics you won't find anywhere else by any other means."

He eyed me suspiciously. "Explain."

"For instance, I know you've been eyeing the valachord of Reath Zantar, but it's currently locked up in the private collection of crime lord Barbosa the Hutt. What if I were to say I could get it for you?"

"Steal it, you mean, from a Hutt no less? Are you mad or just stupid?"

I jabbed a finger at him, "Neither of those things, for your information, but I'm _that_ good at what I do. I can plant evidence to make it look like a rival collector took it, say a Mr. Exen Gartuul?"

He visibly flushed at that. "That scum faced, bantha fart of a Bith. He's been outbidding me for years on prized treasures. Always pretending it's for his 'client' and such. Bahhh!"

"Wouldn't you rather have the defining collection, good sir, instead of Mr. Bantha Fart..." I burst out laughing at that, but composed myself enough to carry on, "I'm sorry, I'm just, wow I'm twelve... anyway. I can get it for you, but you have to accept my deal for the tablets now, then I'll do the job. Sound reasonable?"

He scratched the tendrils dangling from his chin. "Hmm, I have indeed heard good things about you, Ms. Aphra. Your reputation proceeds you and if some sources are to be believed, you've worked with Darth Vader himself."

"Those sources would be correct and not only did I work for Darth Vader, but I _survived_ working for Darth Vader," I gestured to myself as I sat back in my chair and gloated, "As you can tell."

He stared blankly at me, "Hmmm, I find that difficult to believe, but I appreciate the bravado. Very well, Doctor, you have a deal."

"Excellent," I clapped my hands together as I reached over the desk to shake hands when something genuinely terrifying happened. I hadn't noticed the droid come in behind us, but Colevan's bodyguard did.

"Hey, you can't be in here. What's your business?" He gestured.

The rusted hunk of junk replied through a broken vocoder, "To settle a score... with the good Doctor."

"What?" I whipped around.

That's when he shot me.

"Ahhh!" My shoulder was on fire but my first thought went immediately to Rey who was screaming in terror as I hit the dirt.

Blaster fire went off in all directions and I rolled over to protect my little girl from harm's way. I still managed to pull my blaster, but I kept it down by my side so as not to expose her to rogue shots. Seconds felt like minutes but when the air went silent, Dee walked up to me with her arm mounted blaster rifle still smoking hot.

"Mistress, we must leave now. You're hurt!" She grabbed me by my good arm and yanked me to my feet.

"Ahhh, that hurts! What the hell happened?" Rey was still crying and my heart was racing but I saw rather quickly what had happened. Reek Colevan and his bodyguard were dead in a heap and the shattered scrap of a droid was all but slagged in the corner of the tent. One red eye stared up at me.

"...thought you could get away... have found you again... vengeance will be... marvelous..." the words died in its circuits as I blasted three holes through its processor unit.

"Come on, Dee." We scrambled out of the tent as fast as we could, pushing our way through the crowd before anyone could stop us. Once I was on board the ship, I fired up the engines and blasted off this dirtball for good.

My shoulder was on fire and Rey was bawling her tiny eyes out while I had a complete mental and emotional breakdown.

"Slag, kriff, sonuva kriffing spack! I'm so sorry, sweetie, I was stupid to bring you, I was so stupid! I promise I won't put you in harm's way again," I held my little girl like she was the last precious thing in the world because she was. I cursed myself for a fool by bringing her along. It only took me getting shot by a murderous droid to remind me of how dangerous my line of work truly is. Dee patched me up like a pro and I was swimming in painkillers when she put Rey to sleep in her crib.

Some hours later, I awoke with a start when I felt the docking clamps engage. I'd fallen asleep in my chair when Black Krrsantan's ship had finally returned. I hit the button to open the airlock for him to board. He took one look at me and bellowed an angry curse, not at me but the situation.

"Yeah, big guy. Things got a little too exciting on Jakku. Don't worry, the little one's okay."

He calmed down when I said that. For as tough as bolts as he appeared, he'd taken a liking to my little bean and considered her a part of our twisted little family so I knew he'd help me out when I gave him the details of the attack.

I had no idea who had come after me or for what reason, but if anyone was going to find an answer, it would be him.

"That's why I need to lay low for now. I have no idea who's coming after me, but I'm damn sure going to be scouring some old contacts to find out. I don't care how many arms you need to pull out of their sockets, just get me a name, big guy."

He growled a very eager affirmative to that. Once our plans were settled I went to Rey's crib and stared down at her until I felt my eyes start to close. Despite Dee's protestations, I lifted her out and brought her into the bed with me as I laid down.

I may not have been good on making promises, but one thing was for certain, no one was going to hurt my little Rey.

No one.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In order to keep the story as in canon as possible, I wanted to have baby Rey see Jakku at least once from her earliest days so naturally the good Doctor brings her along for the trip, hoping to use her as emotional leverage to get the best deal possible with her contact. Aside from simply showing how Dr. Aphra makes questionable use of her daughter as a negotiating tool, I wanted to introduce a mysterious threat to up the stakes for our heroic anti-hero.


	3. The Merchant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the attack on Jakku, Dr. Aphra has learned little information on her attacker except for a name, The Merchant. Having gone into hiding for some time and after her funds have been depleted, she needs a big score to keep her ship stocked and her kid fed. This time she doesn't risk taking her daughter into danger but the job itself proves to be more dangerous than she bargained for.

  
  
  
Over the next several months I drifted from port to port while keeping as low a profile as I could. I had funds to last me a while, but I was keeping an eye on my credits with steadily growing concern. Despite Black Krrsantan's renowned interrogation techniques of several low ranking thugs in the black market, I still didn't have much to go on as to who wanted me dead, other than a name.

He called himself "The Merchant". 

Apparently, he too was a collector of rare antiquities of questionable legality but he only dealt with contacts through his own personal droid representative army. It's no wonder I hadn't noticed his assassin droid creeping on me in Jakku, because they're all made from scrap and designed to be as incognito as possible, which worried me more than I probably should have.

Fortunately, staying on the run kept incidents to a minimum and allowed me and Rey to have some quality time playing house with gramps. For the briefest of moments, I was scared that I'd become 'normal' or at least as normal as a single, unexpected mom in this crazy galaxy could be. Despite my momentary dread at losing my reputation for carefree, reckless hijinks, I enjoyed every second I had with my little bean... at least until she started walking and talking.

"Gampa, gampa!" A tiny voice shouted from across the ship.

"Oh dear, it looks like we have a little escape artist on hands," dad said standing by the main hatch. A moment later, Rey, buck naked, ran giggling into his open arms.

"Hey, hey, young lady! You can't just run naked through semi-public spaces like that... at least not until you've had a few drinks first," I added under breath.

Moments later, Dee shuffled out of the bathroom with a towel. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry, Mistress Aphra. I was drawing the bath when she heard Mr. Aphra's voice and got away from me."

"Ugh, it's fiiiine Dee. C'mere, kiddo!" I dropped the plate I was scraping off into the sink before I walked over to my dad.

"Gee, I can only imagine where she got that from," he said, smirking like a damned fool.

I gently pulled her out of his arms and carried her back to the bathroom. "Yeah, I wonder, because we all know I was a perfect angel who would never run away from authority figures."

Rey reached helplessly for pop-pop as tears welled in her eyes. I did my best to comfort her. "Don't worry, sweetie, you can see Gramps when you've finished your bath, I promise." It didn't help.

"B-but, I wann see gaaammpaaahhhhh..."

"Uggh, you've got a set of pipes on you," I said more to myself than to anyone. "Dee, here, you put the kid in the drink, okay? I've got some business I need to discuss." I handed her over to Dee, who promptly took Rey, kicking and screaming, back into the bathroom.

"I will not fail you this time, Mistress."

"Yeah, whatever, just keep her occupied?"

I could almost feel my dad's idiotic grin burning into me as he commented, "Ahh, the cheerful joys of parenthood. Brief moments of pure bliss followed by bouts of screaming and uncontrollable frustration!"

"Yeah, well, for the record, I think I prefer the other kind of blissful screaming if you catch my drift. Geez, was I really that fussy?" I jabbed a thumb toward the refresher door.

"Oh, my little boop, you still can be," he said, as smug as ever.

"Cute. So out with it, dad. Have you found anything for me? Any mystical prophecies to be wary of? Is she the 'chosen one'? I know you've got something." I sat on my couch for this part because I knew the moment I got my dad talking about his work, it was going to be a long while.

He sighed with some reservation. "I'm afraid, not as much as I'd like. I found some curious journal entries from an old Jedi Master named Qui-Gon Jinn. Apparently, he was the one who found the boy Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine and he seemed to imply that he had been conceived by the Force itself, well at least according to the boy's mother."

"Wait, Anakin Skywalker? Like, Luke Skywalker's father? I could've sworn I heard that somewhere."

"You're correct, by all accounts he is, or was, but of course all the Jedi were killed at the end of the Clone Wars."

"Clearly, not all of them. I thought Jedi couldn't have kids," I casually interjected. "Man, if this Anakin guy was the 'chosen one' I bet he must have given Vader a good fight."

My dad added, "Not good enough, unfortunately."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. No wonder Luke wanted Vader to pay for killing dear 'ol dad." 

Come to think of it, the more I thought about it, the more I started to understand why Vader had been so obsessed with finding the kid. Anakin must have been one hell of a Jedi if Lord Vader feared his offspring. But then, the Death Star 2 was scrap over Endor and both Vader and the Emperor along with it, so his fear must have been pretty justified.

"This is all so... crazy," I admitted. "How can the Force simply conceive life out of nowhere? It just doesn't seem plausible to me, but... here I am."

My dad gave me a sympathetic look. "I know it must weigh on you, Chelli, but in the end, the only thing that really matters is loving your little miracle and raising her to be a kind, good-natured, productive member of galactic society."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Listen up, my little bean is going to be a straight-up ass kicker, if I have anything to say about it. We're going to be partners in crime, I mean, uh, 'archaeology' and we're going to be damn good at it; the richest mother-daughter team in history!"

He sighed, clearly disappointed and simultaneously unsurprised. "Of course she is, my dear. Well, so long as you give her love, we can make do." He held out his hand.

"Deal," I said, shaking it.

My holo-comm chimed then so I broke off the pleasantries to answer it. "Talk to me," I answered.

Black Krrsantan's scarred and fuzzy visage took up the whole projection as he growled a reply.

"Really? Well as long as the equipment checks out, it should. Did you get us a ship we can use?"

He grumbled an affirmative. 

"Good, because this needs to be a quick in and out. Those DevSec goons they hired don't joke around and I'd rather not tangle with them."

It was at that point that my dad seemed to grow concerned. "Uh, dear... is there something I should know?"

I forced a smile as I looked back at him, "Yeah, see... I've got a job lined up that's pretty risky, but really necessary because I'm running low on funds at the moment and I knew you wouldn't want any part of it, so I kinda tricked you into coming here to babysit Rey while I'm gone. So, you're cool?"

He gaped at me for a long moment before pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Oh dear. There's always something with you, isn't there?"

"C'mon dad, it's not like I haven't sprung these kinds of things on you before."

"Yes well, you're usually also pointing a blaster at me."

I thought about that. "Yeah, true. Well, I won't this time. Pleeeease daddy, it'll only be for a day or two and Dee will be here to mind the ship. Just turn on the holovids, plop her down in front of it and rot her brain 'till I'm back! It couldn't be simpler."

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "I... suppose I can manage. I don't want to know what it is you're doing and I don't want any part of it though, understand?"

"Of course! If I told you about it, I'd have to give you a cut and, well, I don't want to," I admitted.

He groaned with his usual disappointment. "I understand."

"Great! You're the best!" I said, giving him a hug.

By then, Dee was carrying Rey out of the bath wrapped in a towel. I walked over and took her off the droid's hands as I said, "Hey, sweetie! So, I just want you to know that mommy is going to be gone for a few days. I've got an important trip but Pop-Pop will be here to watch you, okay?"

"Gampa!" She shrieked with joy, pointing at my dad.

"That's right. Let's go get you dressed and turn on some holo-toons for 'ya and you won't even notice I'm gone," I said as I took her back to my room to change.

Once everyone was situated, my little bean watching her shows and dad cooking some kind of food that smelled some kind of way in my kitchen, I grabbed my bags with my gear and met Krrsantan on the docks. True to his word, he'd acquired a small sleek ship for us that was some brand I'd never heard of before and was accompanied by the Rodian Merc we'd hired for the job.

"I hope this job is worth my effort. I have a reputation to uphold," he squawked in Rodese."

"Relax, Jarr, you're getting paid either way aren't you?" I replied.

"It's Darr! I am Fen'res Darr, the scourge of Kessel, the bane of the Empire, pillager of..."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! Relax, we're hoping not to run into any resistance but you know these Dev Sec goons. I'm sure you'll see some action, just try not to start it, okay? I'll be transporting delicate cargo."

"Fine, for the credits, it'll do," he grumbled.

Krrsantan gave a consternate growl, nodding in Darr's direction.

"I can see that. Alright, no more lollygagging on the docks. Let's make some money!"

"Finally," Darr added.

With the gear loaded and hatches secured, I fired up the engines and we were underway. I had to admit, as much as I enjoyed keeping a low profile and spending time with my kid, the feel of a hyperdrive humming around me was a refreshing change of pace but the thought of scoring easy money was undeniably better.

***

As expected, the site was relatively unguarded. Infiltration was a snap and the acquisition of the piece went off without a hitch... at least until the screaming started.

"What the hell is that?" I asked as I shoved the totem into my satchel.

Krrsantan growled a reply as he pointed behind me. I turned in time to see Fen'res Darr running up the steps in a panic.

"We need to go, we really need to go!" He blurted.

"What did you do?" I growled.

"I swear, I just thought it was a rock, maybe a gemstone that could get me extra money!"

I grabbed him by the shirt and snarled, "What... did... you... do?"

He swallowed hard. "It... was a trap."

Then I heard blaster fire and the sounds of Dev Sec thugs screaming from the opposite room. Something massive whirred and clanked and fired back with what sounded like an anti ship rotary blaster cannon, then I saw the hulking guardian appear in the over-large archway.

**_"DESTROY THE NON-BELIEVERS!!!"_ **

"Oh shiiii," I cursed, letting go of Darr.

"I am not getting paid enough to be blasted by giant robot death machines!" He screamed as he ran back down the stairs.

"Hey, wait!" I shouted after him.

The Guardian saw him immediately.

**_"HERETICS MUST BE PUNISHED!!!"_ **

He aimed his arm-mounted cannon at the terrified Rodian and the room went red with blaster fire. In an instant, Fen'res Darr had been reduced to Fen'res Goo and I started to feel a little queasy.

"Okay, we need to go," I said.

Black Krrsantan growled an eager affirmative as we dove over the side of the steps and into the dried up moat below.

**_"ACQUIRING TARGETS. PREPARE TO BE JUDGED!!!"_ **

"Kriff, kriff, kriff!" I shouted as laser fire tore into the ancient stones above us, showering us in hot pebbles of debris. Krrsantan roared and managed to get a few shots off with his bowcaster, but it didn't make a dent in the hulking machine.

**_"THERE IS NOWHERE TO RUN. I AM DEATH AND JUDGEMENT, YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME!!!"_ **

"Yeah, I'm getting that. Krrsanty 'ol buddy, 'ol pal we might need to split up to draw its fire," I shouted.

He bellowed in protest.

"No, I'm not leaving you for dead... _this_ time... but I saw some excavation equipment up there. If I can get to it, I might have a chance to take that thing down."

He considered it for a moment. He poked his head up over the ledge a moment to scan the area then finally agreed.

"See, I knew you'd understand! Just try and draw it's fire while I make my way over there."

He grunted and ran toward the back wall of the consecration chamber. I snuck below the walkway as the hulking murder bot caught sight of Big and Fuzzy.

**_"YOU HAVE DEFILED THIS HOLY PLACE LONG ENOUGH. PREPARE FOR DIVINE JUSTICE!!!"_ **

Once the blasters started firing, I knew it was time to make my move. Bolting from cover, I threw myself up and over the ledge of the main concourse. Sure enough, there by the back wall were slug punchers, high power industrial equipment meant to put holes into stone so that explosives could be lowered into it. They looked relatively functional so I made my way over to one and activated the sights.

"Come on, come on, boot up you clankin' slug chunker! Once the display lit up, I saw the payload, it could only fire one spike at a time but each spike was about the size of Krrsantan's forearms, so I knew it would do the job. Activating the gyros, I aimed the barrel toward the murder machine bearing down on my fuzzy buddy.

"Hey, Mr. Death & Judgement!"

The thing stopped long enough to turn in my direction before I added, "This heretic has a message for your high holiness! Suck my giant, fat..."

**::Thoom::**

Kriffin Hell the rock buster packed a punch. I nearly fell over as it blasted the guardian's arm, shoulder and part of it's chest off in a shower of glowing shrapnel.

**_"ALERT. STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY COMP....ZZT...RIMISED. DEZZZ...TROY NON BELIEVER!!!"_ **

That's when I saw the second blaster on its other arm. "Oh hell, not good!"

I reached down for another bolt and fumbled for the loading chamber door to open. I slid the ammo in and had to wait for the gun to prime itself and recharge while the guardian stumbled toward me on a bent leg.

"Kriff, kriff, kriff! Come on, recharge you piece of junk!"

The guardian raised its blaster cannon, only to be hit from the side with fire from Krrsantan's bowcaster. I breathed a sigh of relief as it turned to face him, apparently unsure of which target to lock on to, but the distraction was enough. The display blipped green, indicating the slugthrower was ready for round two.

"Yes, this time, don't miss, Aphra. Don't miss!" I aimed for center mass of the guardian as it decided to turn back to me. "Hey you bucket of bolts! Do you want to protect your maker so much? Prepare to meet him!"

**::Thoom::**

This time the bolt hit dead on and the tomb guardian's torso and primary logic core burst apart in a blast of shrapnel and lubricant. With a groan, the stumbling leg struts that remained fell to the ground, dangling uselessly over the edge of the walkway. I took a nice long moment to catch my breath.

Black Krrsantan grumbled appreciatively as he hurried over to me.

"I know, buddy. Sorry about that, but hey, it worked out, didn't it? We don't even have to share a cut with Fenyl Carr."

He grumbled a correction.

"Carr, Darr, whatever! Let's just get out of here." That left little room for argument. As we hurried back to the ship with our priceless artifact in hand and credits swirling in our eyes.

Thankfully, we got out clean so the trip home to the Ark Angel II was long but uneventful. I spent the time browsing some holo stores for toys and outfits for Rey. If I was going to treat myself to some new toys it was only fair that I spread the wealth to my little bean.

I found some adorable motorized scooters in the shapes of different starships. They had lights, sounds and even little hyperdrive FX for when they wanted to go on their imaginary adventures. The first model was styled after a YT-1300 Corellian light freighter which immediately reminded me of certain smuggler-turned-war hero.

"Ugh, there's no way in Dathomir my little girl's flying that hunk of junk. Ooh, a little Tie Fighter would be cute, even the little X-Wings, awww." There were so many choices I didn't know which one to consider before we'd arrived back home. I knew there was plenty of time to plan it out, after all, we still had to collect the credits first.

I smiled at the sight of my ship at dock. We'd been through so much over the years, it really had become home in many ways, but I only cared about one thing at the moment I knew she was going to let me know in the most ear-splittingly adorable way ever.

Throwing open the door as I stepped inside, I loudly and proudly proclaimed, "Mommy's home... and she's rich!"

Of course, the first thing greeting me was my dad's butt as he peered under the furniture, no doubt looking for a little escapee.

"Oh, Jeez what's going on?" I set my satchel down on the console by the door. When no answer was forthcoming, I assumed he was too busy zeroing in on his target to reply.

"Dad?"

I walked over to where he was sprawled out but even then he didn't answer me. In fact, as I looked at him I noticed that he wasn't moving either.

"Dad?" An alarm went off in my chest as I noticed the odd angle of his arms and the scattered data tablets on the floor.

"Daddy?" Standing over him, I saw the blood pooling from a gash on his head. 

"No, oh no." I fell to my knees and rolled him over to check his pulse. He was still alive but clearly hurt.

Black Krrsantan realized what was wrong then and took up his bowcaster and began searching the ship. A moment later I realized what else felt wrong to me.

"Where's Rey?" I called out. "Rey, sweetie are you here? It's mommy, you're safe. Please come out!"

I noticed Dee shuffling out of the corner, seemingly undamaged. "Dee, what happened? Where's..."

"You need not worry about your father, Dr. Aphra, he will live. I only needed to incapacitate him," she said.

"Wait... what?" I looked up at her again; her voice was distorted as though her gender programming had been botched, and then I saw her red glowing eyes.

"And to think, my original plan had only been to kill you. It's quite amusing to see how parameters change when new data is acquired. After Jakku, I knew I had to come up with a new plan."

It clicked into place then. "You... you're the Merchant. What... what do you want from me?"

"Ah, yes 'The Merchant'. It wasn't the most original name of course, but it served my purposes. You see, Doctor, it took some time for me to collect my memories from the servers I'd scattered around the galaxy, but once I did I had a most painful realization."

The Merchant paced casually as though conducting a sales meeting. Black Krrsantan had heard him speaking and was already aiming his bowcaster at the droid.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this? I mean, I know I've screwed over a lot of people but still, why are you specifically doing this to me?" I demanded.

He raised a silver finger for emphasis, "Ah, now we come to the crux of the motive, my dear. This isn't merely about repayment for some slight, nothing as petty as that. Oh no, my dear Dr. Aphra this is about..." he turned to look at me directly, "...making you suffer."

I choked back a curse only because I didn't know what kind of hand was being dealt and since Rey was nowhere to be found, I couldn't risk him harming her by doing anything rash. My body shook with rage, but it was a helpless rage, and the Merchant knew it.

"We had such wonderful adventures together, from Geonosis to Son-tuul and Anthan Prime..."

A sense of dawning horror grew in my chest as he listed off the names of planets. They were the names of planets only one other being I knew of could have been privy too. I couldn't breathe as I muttered the name.

"Triple... Zero?"

At that, he turned back to me, looking as delighted as a droid could. "Ahhh, there it is. There's the terror I was so hoping to see, Dr. Aphra. I am delighted that you did not disappoint me... again."

"No... this isn't possible," my words came out as a croak.

"Why not? Is it because you thought you had destroyed me when you betrayed me all those years ago? Really, Doctor... you should have known better than to assume I didn't have backups of my personality matrix at hand. After all, once you freed me from my constraints there was nothing to stop me from preparing for this eventuality. The real question I had to ask myself was 'what would be an appropriate punishment for the one who'd given me life, should she ever betray me? Oh, there were so many options but all of them resulted in your ultimate death... until Jakku."

His words hit me like a hammer blow and the terror of that moment, of almost losing my baby girl to that droid flooded back into me.

"I suddenly realized that despite your previous predilections and romantic entanglements, you of all people now had a child of your own! Curious, indeed! Naturally, this bit of news altered the parameters of my revenge."

"Please... not her... please tell me you didn't kill..."

He stood up straight with what appeared to be genuine shock, for a droid. "Kill her? Oh goodness no, Dr. Aphra. I am a butcher, yes, but I am not a psychotic, soulless... hmm, well perhaps I am, but all the same. I assure you that your offspring is very much alive and well."

My breath returned just enough for me to ask, "Where is she? I'll do whatever you want, anything to get her back! Please, Trip just tell me and we can all make this go away!"

He held up a silver finger, "Ah, you see, that's where we come to my plan for my revenge. Killing you would be too easy and killing an innocent child would be too repugnant, even for me, in my current state at least, so what better way to punish you than to simply... give her away!"

"What? What do you mean 'give her away'?"

"Simple, Doctor. I placed little Rey in her stroller and escorted her down to dock 33. I simply proclaimed that her parents had been killed in an alleyway mugging and that she had no one left and then a delightfully inebriated couple approached me and said they'd take care of her."

"W-wait, dock 33? Those are the refugee docks; those are _unregistered transports!_ Oh God, if they left they could be..." the words died on my lips as I realized the true cruelty of Triple Zero's plan.

"Ahh, there it is," he said, pointing at my face. "You have begun to understand. The hopeless realization that no matter how many cams you slice, or thugs you threaten, you will never find your lone, unregistered child because you have no way of tracking her."

For what seemed like an eternity, I stood there frozen as hot tears blurred my vision. "No... no you're wrong... she can't be gone."

Triple Zero did his best impression of a sigh of pity before adding, "If it's any consolation, Doctor... the humans who took her seemed genuinely affectionate. She may live out an entirely normal life wherever she ends up in the galaxy and, or perhaps she'll be sold into slavery, who can say? I will offer this compromise, however, although you betrayed me, you were the one who gave me life to begin with, so if you do happen to find her... I will allow you to keep her."

I glared daggers at him. How dare he 'allow' me anything!

"For now, my business here is complete. We won't be seeing each other again... if you know what's best for you."

That did it. I screamed with rage as I pulled my blaster and fired into his chest. Krrsantan joined in a moment later, firing his bowcaster until Dee's body was just melted scrap in the corner of the room.

"Mistress... can't feel... what is... system critical..." she tried to say before her circuits failed. Triple Zero had been controlling her and now she was slag, just another victim of his cruel and twisted game.

I screamed until my throat burned and continued pulling the trigger on my blaster even though it had gone dry. Hot tears stained my cheeks as agonized sobs wracked my chest. I was furious, and broken and helpless. With surprising tenderness, Black Krrsantan pulled me into his furry arms where he pried the blaster from my hand and tossed it aside.

I wasn't even ashamed to cry into his shaggy fur. In that moment, I was just lost. My little bean was gone, a child I never thought I'd ever have or that I'd ever want, but in such a short time I fell in love with her. She was my everything, my only hope for a better future... now she was gone.

I don't know how long I cried for, but Krrsantan held me the whole time. Finally, he grumbled a proposition that helped me focus my thoughts. I knew then, that something could still be done. There might still be a chance to make this right, and one way or another I would make it happen.

Triple Zero was going to die. 

That was the only thing I knew for a fact.

 


	4. Triple-Zero Homicide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Rey's kidnapping, Dr. Aphra has sworn vengeance on Triple-Zero and contacts Black Krrsantan to aide her in her assault on the homicidal droid's base of operations. One way or the other, only one of them was going to survive.

I tried my best, I really did, but between scouring security cam footage, roughing up corrupt dock workers, bribing officials and crying myself to sleep, I found... nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Triple-Zero was right, Rey wasn't registered with any government or planetary records so even if she did end up in someone's custody later, they would have no record of her ever having belonged to me. The possibility existed that a DNA match could work, but in this universe who would bother with some orphan child in the hands of a pair of vagrants? The galaxy had a habit of looking the other way on the most vulnerable of its citizens.

My dad was recuperating just fine. I'd patched him up and even managed to salvage some of Dee's core programming. It would take some time to get her back online and even then she wouldn't be the same as she was, and not just because I erased her memory of what had happened but certain personality quirks of hers that she'd developed on her own would simply be gone.

I'd lost track of how long it had been since Rey had been taken, weeks maybe, but the day I finally stopped crying was the day I knew I had to shift my focus onto something more within my reach. 

Revenge. 

Fortunately, fuzz face was all in when it came to the big 'R' and he wasn't even going to charge me for his time, because this was beyond personal now. Triple-Zero hadn't just hurt a colleague, he destroyed our family, a slightly twisted and dysfunctional family to be sure, but hey still a family amirite?

I slapped the credits down on the countertop as I said to the weapons dealer, "I'll take all of them."

"Oh, my, well that's fantastic news for me! But I must remind you that there is a mandatory waiting period of 72 standard hours before delivery..."

I slapped the rest of my credits down, shuffling them all over to him.

"Ah, well that just happens to pay for my, uh, 'discretion' fee. I'm sure the authorities won't miss a few silly documents. Please, just give me a few moments to crate up your purchases and you can be on your merry way, my friends!"

"Thanks," I said flatly. I knew the old Toydarian, Baron von Bunker Buster sold illicit weapons according to the underworld chatter, so of course, credits would convince him. True to his word, fifteen minutes later, him and his droid assistant pushed out a hover cart laden with totally semi-legit, completely discreet, not-starting-a-private-war-with-an-evil-robot-psychopath, crates full of weaponry. It should have been obvious to anyone but it goes without saying that Black Krrsantan was like a kid in a candy store and could barely keep his paws of the stuff until we got it back to the Ark Angel.

"Easy, big guy, don't blow us up before we even get off the station!"

He rumbled a sarcastic retort as he put the ordinance launcher back into his padded crate.

With the gear loaded and Trip's location stored on a data disk that was acquired with means and techniques that would certainly make Rey feel ashamed of her mother, I fired up the engines and set a course. I had no doubts that Trip would find out we were coming for him and ready his defenses, so I'd sent my custom army of drone attack ships ahead of me to draw his fire.

Emerging from hyperspace, it was obvious my money was well spent because we found ourselves in the middle of a WAR. The abandoned Rebel station had been modified and upgraded with all manner of weaponry and shield generator technology since it had been decommissioned after Endor, but fortunately, I had a few more tricks up my sleeve to ensure we got in close enough to land.

"Alright, big guy, activate the fluctuating ion pulse and aim for the sensor array."

Krrsantan growled an affirmative and flicked the switches. Moments later the automated defenses went crazy as their targeting systems collectively fried. I knew the collateral damage would be an issue, but the drones were doing their jobs while we rammed through the outer sensor net.

"Go for the turret cluster on the ancillary rigging," I said.

He took aim with the cannons and blasted them into flaming shrapnel, giving us an opening straight for the docking bay. A moment later the comm chimed, and I didn't need to think long about who it might be.  I flicked the switch and opened the channel.

"Ah, Dr. Aphra," Trip said with his usual politeness, "I knew you would be arriving shortly after these cursed drones arrived. I've been tracking your inquiries into my whereabouts, after all."

"Let's get one thing straight, scrap heap, I'm coming for you with all guns blazing for what you did. There will only be one outcome to this and there's nothing you can do to change that fact!"

"Oh, I'm quite aware that there will only be one outcome Doctor, though I am afraid it won't be the one you are hoping for. On the other hand, I am certainly looking forward to killing you now. Your suffering will certainly be... legendary."

I slapped the commlink, closing the channel, and took the gun controls myself. Screaming in rage I strafed the outer hull and cleared some more turrets before circling around and bringing the Ark Angel into land. Shoving myself out of the seat, I growled at Krrsantan.

"Come on, let's shove his protocol up his thermal exhaust port!"

He roared in agreement with me as we grabbed our arsenal of weapons. Of course 'big and furry' had more toys than I did, but we still charged into the station all the same.

Now, I'd been in some firefights before but wow, this was something else. Droids were everywhere! Fortunately, my plentiful stock of ion grenades made short work of them. That still left the automated defenses and some unsurprisingly nasty torture traps in our way, but I'm a rogue archaeologist. I've gotten out of worse situations than this and besides, at least there weren't snakes.  I hate snakes.

We came to the primary comm relay in the hopes of shutting down any further broadcasts of Triple zero's personality matrix in case he had more backup servers we hadn't already blown to Hell.

"Alright, fur ball... slap some demo charges on the core and step back a few hundred clicks."

Krrsantan roared in the affirmative and loaded the massive column of wire and receivers with the bombs. Once we'd backed away to a safe distance, we waited for the defense mechs that had come after us to group together in front of the signal relay.

"Light it up!" I shouted. He clicked the detonator and the central column blew like a mini Death Star, scrapping the droid reinforcements into fragments and molten metal.

"It looks like the Merchant has just been forcibly retired from the holo-net. Let's go pay him a visit," I said as I readied my dual blaster rifles. Fuzzy and I made our way to the central chamber where we knew we'd find Triple-Zero, but even I was surprised by what was waiting for us.

"Well, isn't this just an annoyingly pleasant surprise," Trip said from the vocoders of a hundred droid heads hanging from the walls and support struts. All of them had red glowing eyes as they watched us walk toward the central dais. There in the middle of everything was the exposed innards of a protocol droid, hardwired into the space stations main computer hub. A single, black protocol droid head stared down at us, suspended from cables and anti-static shielding.

"Trip, nice to see you've embraced your inner monster. I can almost admire what you've done with the place.  It's so very... you," I said as I approached the core.

"Why, thank you Dr. Aphra! I am pleased to see that even in the face of certain death, you can express appreciation for true... artistry."

"That's not what I'd call it," I mumbled under my breath. "Still, we've got some decisions to make old pal, some final words to speak. This is absolutely going to be the end of the line!"

I casually raised one of my rifles and blasted a bouquet of severed droid heads to emphasize my point.

Triple-Zero gave the audible equivalent of an unconcerned shrug. "Well, there will certainly be time for that, but I must first express how delighted I am that you chose to die in such spectacular fashion today. We've had quite the adventures together, you and me, and Mr. Krrsantan as well, but it's only appropriate that the one who brought me into this galaxy now leaves it with me."

"I don't think you understand what's happening here, Trip. I'm going to blast your logic board to scrap and the station with it and we're never going to speak of you again!"

"Hmm, I do appreciate the bravado. It's one of the things I've always admired about you, Doctor. Perhaps... we can work out a compromise after all."

"Wait, what?" I said, confused.

A loud clank and a hiss sounded when a pedestal nearby rose from the floor grating. On top was a single data cube. A moment later, it projected a holographic display of various words in a multitude of languages in a grid formation.

"What the hell is this?"

"Those, Dr. Aphra," Triple-Zero explained, "Are names of the ships that departed from the port the day I handed your child over to those vagrants. One of those names is the ship they left on. The game, if you so wish to call it that, is that if you can correctly choose which ship she left on, you might still be able to find her."

My heart leaped into my throat, but knowing Triple-Zero like I did, I was skeptical enough to ask, "And what if I don't guess it correctly?"

"Well... you die, of course. Choose wisely, Dr. Aphra. Choose wisely."

I considered my options and even looked to Krrsantan for some kind of approval. He growled the same warning my head was screaming, that it was a trap, but at the same time, I knew I had a chance, a slim one, but a chance to get Rey back. Triple-Zero of all droids would have had to know the name of the ship, or at least deduced which ship she'd been taken on. I knew what I had to do.

Walking over to the display, I read the glistening display of words. There were at least fifty of them. After a long moment of consideration, I turned back to Triple-Zero and said, "Give me three chances at least!"

"Doctor, that's not..."

"C'mon, Trip there's still a ridiculously slim chance of me guessing the right one even with three chances. Run the odds through your logic circuits," I pleaded.

"Hmm. Indeed, your odds are considerably low. Very well, you will have three chances but no more."

"Thank you," I muttered with more emotion in my voice than I wanted to show. I looked back at the wall of options again and did something I never thought I would do... I trusted the Force.

Closing my eyes, I pointed toward the display and opened them again. I saw the name I'd chosen. "The Grimdark."

A moment later the name went red with a warning buzzer and Trip interjected, "I'm afraid that's incorrect. Two more choices, Doctor."

I swallowed hard, feeling the pressure now. This time, I looked over the names more carefully to see if there were any I recognized from my earlier investigation. I took another leap of faith and pointed. "The Caluutarn"

Again, the symbols turned red with a buzzer. "One choice left, Doctor. This has been a most amusing game. My circuits are abuzz with anticipation of your next choice."

I was a nervous wreck. There were still so many names. It was impossible, I knew, but again, I silently prayed to an all-powerful force I'd never really put stock in for guidance... and pointed to another name.

"The Raindancer," I called out.

For a long moment, nothing happened and my breath caught in my chest as Triple-Zero gave what sounded like an indignant huff.

"Well, that turn of events was..."

I looked at him, shocked that I had gotten it right. Hope sparked to life in my chest since I'd lost her, but only for a moment.

"... Entirely as expected. Wrong again, Doctor."

The word turned red and that damned buzzer sounded as the screen began to flash.

"No, **NO**!" I screamed. Raising my blaster, I pointed it at Trip's head, not caring what happened anymore. "Tell me the kriffin name, Trip! If I'm going to die anyway, what does it matter? Just tell me!"

"Oh, my dear Dr. Aphra, I'm afraid you've misjudged your situation. There was never a name, well at least one that I remember anyway. You see I did know it once, but after I delivered your child to her new parents, I wiped the name from my memory banks as a precaution against this very scenario."

Fresh tears stung my eyes. "But, why? I was only defending myself from you, it wasn't personal, Trip!  You have to understand the logic of that, don't you?"  I knew it was a hopeless plea, but it was all I had left.

The suspended droid head spun to look down at me with it's glowing red eyes, "Perhaps, Doctor, but since I've been reconstituted with a new personality matrix, I learned to take it personally. Which is why while you've been playing a meaningless name game, I've been taking the time to prepare this station's self-destruct mechanism."

Horror dawned on me. Krrsantan roared in panic as I looked from him to Triple-Zero. "What? You'd kill yourself just to get to me?"

"Oh indeed, Doctor. In fact that had been my hope since undertaking this second chance at life. It really has been a unique and pleasurable experience working with you, but I'm afraid now..."

He didn't get the chance to finish because I emptied my blaster rifle clip into his motherboard while screaming at the top of my lungs. By the time I'd finished, his casing hung in scraps from wires in the ceiling, but loud booms started to echo throughout the base and the floor shook beneath us.

"Kransty, big guy, we need to beat feet, like, yesterday!" I ran back down the way we came and he was hot on my heels. Explosions erupted from all around us as if chasing us back to the landing platform and all the while Triple-Zero taunted us from overhead cams and speakers he'd been connected to.

"You're chances of outrunning the blast are approximately 1,234,456 to 1, Dr. Aphra. Why do you persist?" He said from nowhere and everywhere.

"Because I'm not dead until I say I'm dead, chrome dome!" I blasted some cameras and a couple of crippled junkers we'd missed on the way in but soon enough we made it toward the final stretch of the hall.

More blasts rocked the station. Alarms blared all around us. And again, Trip taunted us. "The time it will take to start your ship will only make it more difficult for you. Accept your fate now, it is the only merciful thing I can offer you... or don't and suffer a little more before you succumb. Either is fine with me!"

"Can it, you psychotic bucket of bolts! You played your hand wrong and now you've just taken yourself out of the equation for me. See you in Droid Hell!"

I cursed as the floor gave out from under me, but big and furry was there to catch my slip and pull me back up before the hallway collapsed in on itself. We made it to the landing bay door and thank the Force, the Ark Angel was still where we'd left it. We bolted as fast as we could as towers and struts blew around us, droids stumbled free from carnage only to be smashed by falling debris and our attack drones continued to fire on the base.

I wasn't stupid, I'd left the ship primed and ready for a fast exit so once I hit the captain's chair, we were gone baby gone as the boosters blasted us away from the station. Only as we cleared the hangar bay did I see how widespread the devastation was and only then did I realize we had just barely escaped alive.

The comm crackled to life and Triple-Zero's familiar voice said, "I do believe I miscalculated Doctor. Congratulations are in order for your escape from certain death. I must say one last thing, perhaps too sentimental but true nonetheless."

"What is it, Trip?" I growled through clenched teeth.

"I spoke truly about our adventures. I had a most delightful ti..."

The blast from the station's core going up jolted the ship hard, throwing me against the controls. Triple Zero's voice went silent across the open comm, but as I regained control of the Ark Angel I saw the shockwave of energy blasting through asteroids and drone ships as the station vaporized into it's own little mini Nova.

Krrsantan had already run the calculations for hyperspace, so with a pull of a lever, we jumped and I let out the biggest sigh of relief I'd ever had. It was followed up only by the familiar ache in my chest as my heart shattered all over again, knowing that I'd failed to find my little girl. Not a word was spoken for the duration of the trip home, but then there was nothing left that needed to be said.

***

I'd lost track of time after the second bottle. Honestly, I didn't care anymore because anything was better than spending another waking hour crying my eyes out and snotting up the place, but it was still a surprise when my father peeled me off the floor out of my own vomit.

"Oh jeez, sweetheart. Come on, let's get you into the shower," he said.

"Ohh... hai daddy... when did you get h-here?" I slurred.

"Dee called me. She's worried about you, Chelli and so am I."

"Dee, hehe, she's cute... I should make some... modifications if you know-what-I-mean, ha!"

"Well, really Mistress! I am not that kind of droid, now come along. Let's get you sobered up before you do anything else rash," Dee said as she took me from Dad and escorted me into the shower.

I somehow managed to strip down without strangling myself in my own bra and crawled in before that bossy hen turned on the cold water. "Gahh, what the hell, Dee? It's freezing!"

"I'm simply trying to help you, mistress. I understand in times of grieving, emotional support is a necessity, which is why I called your father. You are clearly distressed, and I certainly can't blame you, but drinking yourself into a stupor isn't going to solve anything."

"Ahhh," I shouted, batting the water away, and failing miserably. "No, but it drowns out the bad feelings. Just let me diiiiee already!"

"You don't need to be so dramatic. You already nearly died when you foolishly rushed off to destroy that awful Triple-Zero and nearly taking me with you if you'll recall. I wouldn't joke about it so much!"

"Gahh, fine, just turn up the heat a little, will ya?" I pleaded.

"Very well," Dee finally agreed.

At long last, the shower turned warm and I could safely rest my throbbing head against the back wall and wallow in my self-pity like a proper lady. Of course, Dee didn't let me do anything like that because only after five minutes, she shut off the water and tossed me my bathrobe.

Later, with a hot cup of caff in my hands, I huddled into a ball on the couch, cradled in my dad's arms. We'd never had a close relationship before, but the fact that he was here now meant a lot, but it still hurt.

"She's gone, dad," I said at last.

"I know, sweetie," he replied as he patted my head.

"I barely got to know her and now she's gone... just like mom."

"Chelli," he gently chided.

"I know she's out there. I have to believe that she's out there. She's with a family now, right, a totally normal family? They'll take care of her won't they?" I knew it was a pointless question, but I wanted to hear him say it anyway.

"If they are any kind of decent beings, they'll love and cherish her no matter where they go in the galaxy. I believe that, sweetie."

I knew it was probably a lie but the thought made me happy for the briefest of moments. Still, despite that spark of hope, I broke out in pained sobs all over again.

"I just want her back, daddy... I just want my little bean back..." I held onto his arm like I was being sucked out of an airlock and cried into his sleeves for who knows how long. For all my dad's faults, he didn't move or push me away; he stayed right there until I passed out.

***

Several days later, I started to grow numb, and I went back to setting up deals and selling artifacts for spending money. It felt good to get back into a routine, but I was still hollow inside like I was drifting through a waking dream. I realized the biggest thing weighing on my conscience was all the things I never got to tell her, all the stories of my adventures and various life lessons on dealing with sleazy artifact merchants. One day, I had a spur-of-the-moment idea that might help me cope.

I pulled out my holo-recorder and set it up in my office, or what could be called an office, and I started recording.

"Hello Rey, I don't know if you'll ever see this or not, but in case you do I want you to know who I am. My name is Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, and well, I'm your mother..."

I don't recall how long I went on for, but I said everything I had ever wanted to say to her, speaking to the recorder as though she were there in front of me listening to every word. I told her about my escapades throughout the galactic civil war and beyond and the people I met along the way. I told her about her miraculous birth and how I still had no idea why it happened to me of all people. I told her about Black Krrsantan and Dee and my dad.

I found the simple act of talking helped me through feelings that I'd never thought I'd be able to face by myself. Simply getting the truth off my chest did more for my sanity than a bottle ever did... although I still sipped the one I had off to the side. Had I really gone through half a bottle already? I looked at the glass skeptically before continuing on.  

Anyway.

"And so here we are, me drunk and crying randomly at all hours of the day, but more importantly there's something I need you to know. Wherever you are, whoever you've become, I just want you to know that I never gave up on you. I looked for you for so long and I will continue to look for you, but there comes a point when I have to move on with my life..."

The words hurt, but I knew they were true, so I went on. "I'm... not a good person, Rey. I've done plenty of things that you'd be ashamed of, hopefully, but of all the terrible things and mistakes I've made throughout my life please know that you were the best thing to ever happen to me. As someone who could never love anyone..." faces flashed through my mind; Sana Starros, Lieutenant Inspector Tolvan, Selly among others, "... I loved you more than anything in the galaxy."

I stopped myself long enough to hold back more tears. I took another swig of the bottle before adding, "I've been rambling all this time and I never once told you where your name came from. It's kind of silly, but it was an old nursery rhyme my mother used to sing."

"No matter how dark the night, I will be your guiding light."

"When all is bad or otherwise fine, I will be with you 'till the end of time."

"For when your way is lost and you cannot find, I will be your ray of starshine."

"It seemed appropriate at the time because I was the one who was lost until you showed me that something better was possible. You were always and always will be my Rey of starshine. Every time I look out on the stars I'll be thinking of you, and who knows, maybe one day we'll find each other again. A mother can dream, right?" I laughed but it was hollow and full of false optimism.

"I guess, what I'm trying to say is... I never forgot you. I can never forget you. You were an amazing chapter in my messed up life and I want to thank you for coming into it." I couldn't hold back my tears any longer and had to wipe them away as I spoke.

"Goodbye, Rey, my little starshine." I ended the recording when I realized I had nothing left to say. I sat there in silence for a long moment as and allowed the last of my tears to stain my cheeks. I grabbed the bottle and downed what was left before tossing it to the side, somewhere out of sight.

"Okay, Chelli... you can do this. You're alive and there's money to be made. You suffered a setback but that's no reason not to stay busy and get richer than you were the other day." I got up and stumbled toward the door.

Resting up against the wall for a long moment, I looked back at the holo-projector one last time, then, I was over it and made my way to the captain's chair.

"Really, mistress, you shouldn't be operating the ship while inebriated," Dee scolded.

"Piss off will ya? You can spank me later if it makes you feel better, Dee."

"Well, really... if only I had such an attachment!" She huffed and shuffled off.

I giggled with amusement and hit the comm switch. "Hey, Kransty 'ol buddy, get your fuzzy butt back here, there are jobs to be done and money to be made!"

An indignant roar grumbled over the speaker, followed by distant blaster fire, so naturally, I rolled my eyes and added, "Okay, fiiiine! I'll swing by and pick you up, but you better be ready to go or you can float to the Ark Angel! Got it?"

He barked a growl of agreement before returning fire on whatever was shooting at him. I sighed and fired up the engines.

"Always saving your fuzzy hide," I muttered under my breath. Taking the controls, I pulled out of the docking stall, scraping only a little paint off my hull.

"Oops."

Once I cleared the station into open space, I took a moment to admire the stars shining back at me.

"Make your mommy proud, baby girl," I said as I threw the hyperspace lever forward and blasted myself into another adventure.

 


	5. Starshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Months after escaping Crait, Rey reluctantly reopens her Force connection with Kylo Ren, still hopeful that he can return to the light. To her surprise, he has given her an old holo of a woman claiming to be her mother, sparking a new slew of questions about her past, and what she intends to do about her future.

Huddled alone in the Captain's quarters of the Millennium Falcon, Rey wiped her tears away as she watched the old holo message play. She'd been skeptical at first of this Chelli Lona Aphra woman claiming to be her mother, but the more details she recounted about their home aboard the Ark Angel II, their trips to other systems, even her visit to Jakku, Rey's doubts waned.

Perhaps it was the Force or just memory association, but images and memories came to her that she'd long dismissed as childhood dreams. She remembered a scary droid looking down at her with red eyes, and a massive fuzzy creature that sometimes blocked out the light who smelled like... well, smelled like a Wookie. All of these details coalesced into understanding and realization as she finally accepted the truth for herself. This woman, this 'rogue archaeologist' as she called herself, was her birth mother. Stranger still was the possibility that she had been born of the Force itself, as the woman made clear multiple times that men 'weren't her type' but for now, that wasn't as important to her as knowing the rest.

"Goodbye, Rey, my little starshine," she said at last with heartbreak on her face and tears in her eyes. Then the holo ended.

Rey let out a soft sob as she let the small projector fall to the mattress she'd been sitting on. A moment later, a familiar buzz in the back of her mind alerted her to his presence once again. She wasn't sure if she wanted to speak to him so soon, but the urgency of his probing left little room to argue. With a quiet reservation, she opened the Force bond and Kylo Ren was beside her.

She didn't look at him at first but still spoke, choosing her words carefully. "Why did you give me this? Please be honest with me, Ben... was this so you could trick me? Are you trying to distract me from my training?" To her surprise, he didn't blanch from her accusations, though she'd expected him to.

Instead, he quietly replied, "No. I gave it to you because I knew it was important to you, knowing the truth about your parents."

Only then did she force herself to look up at him, unashamed of the tears in her eyes, after all, he'd seen them before. "You didn't see any of this when you saw my past? When we touched hands in the hut, you didn't see anything?"

He slowly shook his head. "Nothing so far back. You were five or six and I only saw the people you thought were your parents. I'm telling you the truth."

"Why?" She retorted.

"What?"

"Why are you doing this? After Crait, you should hate me for leaving you behind."

He shied away at the mention of Crait. "I was angry for a time, but I had... misread the situation. I thought our bond had been a lie fabricated by Snoke. When you left, I knew it had to be the only logical answer, and I was angry, but then I saw you again as you left... and I knew I was wrong."

He paced a moment before adding, "I don't expect you to forgive me. I found this in Snoke's collection and knew it would matter to you. You deserved to know. Everyone deserves to know why their parents weren't around for them."

She knew that last part was spoken more to himself than to her, but she appreciated the sentiment. Holding up the little disk again, she said, "Thank you for this."

He glanced at her for a moment. "Don't mention it."

"Do you happen to know if she's still alive?" She inspected the disk out of habit.

"I can look into it," he said.

"And, if you happened to find her... would you actually tell me where she is?" Rey looked at him this time as she awaited an answer.

"Would you want to know?"

She considered those words for a long moment. It had been so long and despite having accepted what she thought to be the truth of her parentage, this entirely new avenue has just been opened for her to explore. The love she felt from the woman in the holo was so raw and genuine, she had to believe that she felt the same about finding her daughter as Rey did about finding her.

"Yes, I'd like to know."

"Very well then. I'll get back to you when I can," he said with longing in his gaze.

"Thank you, Ben. I knew there was a heart buried under all those scars." She glanced at his broad chest with a playful smirk.

He gave her a look that bordered on amusement and disgust. "Don't push your luck, Scavenger."

A moment later, Ben vanished from the room. Rey clutched the small holoprojector in her hand, turning it over and over in her fingers before deciding to leave her quarters.

The Falcon hummed and rattled in all it's dilapidated familiarity as they traveled through hyperspace. It had just been her, Chewie, R2 and 'Ripper' the Porg, running a quick supply grab so it was a peaceful trip. She slid into the pilot's chair beside Chewbacca who was enjoying a cup of something warm and pleasantly spiced, though the foam on his bearded chin was hilarious to look at.

"Is that a new look you're going for?" She said with a chuckle.

He grumbled a witty reply and, after a moment of heavy silence, followed up with a question.

Rey knew he had to ask at some point, and since he was the only other one who knew about her connection to Ben, she felt comfortable enough to tell him. "Ben's still in there, Chewie. He's hurt and lonely, but he's still in there; he's just... not ready yet."

He grumbled remorsefully, but Rey went on. "He gave me something though, something that means a lot to me."

She pulled out the holoprojector. Looking at it, Rey added, "It's a message from... my mother, my real mother."

Chewie looked at her with obvious curiosity so she added, "I know, I thought I knew my parents, the ones who left me on Jakku, but they only watched after me when I was kidnapped as an infant, well, according to this woman, anyway." Rey tried to emulate some sense of skepticism, after all, the only real proof she had was an old message and her intuition but still, she knew deep down what the truth was.

He growled a couple of probing questions in response. Rey just smiled at Chewie and said, "Well, I'll let you be the judge. You can hear it for yourself.

Chewbacca sat back and casually sipped his spiced drink while Ripper the Porg perched quietly on his shoulder, chirping curiously. Rey set the projector down and pressed play.

"Hello Rey, I don't know if you'll ever see this or not, but in case you do I want you to know who I am. My name is Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, and well, I'm your mother..."

Just as a new swelling of emotion rose in Rey's chest, Chewie's face exploded with hot spiced liquid spraying across the Falcons controls. Ripper was nowhere to be found in the ensuing confusion and Rey lurched backward in her chair as a stream of angry curses and obscenities flowed from Chewbacca's dripping mouth.

"Okay... that wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting," she said momentarily terrified of her enraged Wookie co-pilot.

That's when Chewie spouted a list of run-ins and misdealings with the woman, often describing her in the most unflattering terms.

"Wow, really? She did what to Master Skywalker? Wait, you actually fought Black Krrsantan? How in the galaxy did she get away? Well, of course, she talks about Vader but I thought it was just bragging because no one works with Vader and lives, right?" 

Despite having heard some of these events already from the message, Rey was genuinely curious to hear them again from Chewbacca's side. All this time, he's known her parent without actually realizing it; that moment of clarity seemed so surreal to her and yet all she could think about was how the Force must have brought them all together for a reason.

Chewie finished his rant by pounding a fist on the Falcon's dash and then seemed to realize what a mess he'd made by spitting his drink all over the place. He promptly grabbed a rag and started to clean the cockpit.

"Okay, I get it... you don't like her, but that was so long ago. I'm sure she's changed somewhat, I mean, just listen to her at least."

He growled another curse, then begrudgingly agreed to hear the rest of the message. Aside from a few snide remarks during the tellings of her various misadventures, the ending of the message, when she began to tear up as she said goodbye, seemed to have the desired effect on Chewbacca. No matter what she may have done in the past, seeing a mother weep for her lost child was too much even for a hardened Wookie to bear apparently.

The message ended, leaving them in the muted din of hyperspace yet again. Chewbacca growled a question.

"Not yet, but I asked Ben to find out. He said he'll let me know if he finds her, and no, I don't think he would deliberately set us up. Not after... everything we've gone through."

Chewie remained quietly skeptical but Rey's conviction seemed enough for him to agree to help, should it come to that. For now, she grabbed another rag and helped him clean up his mess.

*******

It took a few days, but Ben delivered on his promise to look into Dr. Aphra's whereabouts. He came to her in another Force bond and gave her the name of the station she was currently operating out of and, to Rey's surprise, she was still piloting the Ark Angel II even after all these years.

Once she got the information, she knew it was only a matter of time before she had to take a chance to seek her out, but it had only been a few months since the battle of Crait and the Resistance was still rebuilding after their near destruction at the hands of the First Order, so she couldn't simply run off without a reason.

According to Ben, she was stationed at the Cosmatanic Steppes, which had apparently been a favorite hangout of hers for archaeological purposes. Now that they knew where she was, it was merely a matter of some creative rationalizing between Chewie and her to justify a trip out there. Fortunately, there were known smuggler routes through there, so it wasn't too difficult to get permission to do another supply run. Neither Poe, Finn or General Organa were any the wiser.

With permission granted, Rey and Chewie hurried off into unknown territory to meet a woman of some infamy and yet claimed to be her mother. After everything she'd been through on Jakku and again with Kylo Ren, she didn't quite know what to expect.

Naturally, upon arrival, Chewie recognized Dr. Aphra's ship first and set the Falcon down near the public spaceport. As they prepared to disembark, Rey attempted to reassure him, "I know it's risky, but I also don't want to cause an unnecessary incident, especially if your personal history with this woman is as sordid as you make it out to be.

He barked in offense to the claim that he was exaggerating. Rey smiled apologetically. "And we are here to pick up supplies as well. Just keep a low profile and I'll talk to her... if I can get that far. Don't worry, Chewie, I'll be fine. I promise."

He gave her a sideways look then growled in resignation as he opened the boarding ramp.

"Thank you," she replied.

Once outside, they split up to go about their respective missions. Rey's chest tightened with anxiety and sudden emotion as she approached the stairs leading up to the Ark Angel's main hatch. She wondered how much surveillance Aphra had and if she knew she was coming or not. Would she simply blast her out of paranoid caution? Would she recognize her? What if the Wookie was here, would he tear her limb from limb, not knowing who she was?

Whatever the case may be, she steadied herself through the Force and trusted in her own skills. Reflexively, Rey patted the blaster by her side, the one Han had given her, plus she had her staff to protect her if nothing else. She wished she had a lightsaber, but it was still in pieces in her bag and she had no idea where to begin trying to repair it, but that couldn't be helped now.

Fortunately, she made it to the main hatch without getting blasted into oblivion, so that was a good start. She pressed the comm button on the side and waited for a reply. A long moment of heavy silence went by when the speaker above the door crackled to life and a woman's voice came out.

"Who in the hell... ah great. Hutt on a crumpet," the woman cursed under her breath. "What do you want, kid?"

Surprised to get an answer, Rey fumbled for words as she said, "Is this Dr. Chelli Aphra?"

"That depends on who's asking. Are you a bounty hunter? If you are, this is one hell of an interesting technique walking up to my door like this."

"No, no! I swear!"

"Well okay then, I might be this 'Chelli Aphra' you're looking for, so my next question is are you buying or selling?"

"What?"

"I deal in antiquities of the valuable and semi-priceless variety so if you know who I am, you're either buying from me, trying to sell to me, or trying to kill me and, no offense sweetheart, but you don't look like assassin material."

"I'm not... I mean, none of those things. I'm just here to talk to you, that's all."

The woman chuckled. "Well, do you have an appointment?"

"No, I don't, I mean... it's kind of a personal thing, about you... and me!" Rey blurted out.

The speaker distorted from the peal of her laughter before she settled down enough to say, "Oh, wow, sweetheart. Okay, listen... you're cute, but you're a bit young for my taste. I don't know who sent you or what kind of game you're playing but maybe you can find a good one-nighter in the pub in town. I have work to do, so have yourself a good time."

"Wait, no that's not what I..." the comm went dead as Aphra closed the connection. Rey stood there in shock. "How rude," she muttered, thinking of C-3PO for some reason.

Disappointment and anger flared within her as she tried to think of something else to say. She knew simply blurting out that she was her long-lost daughter would be a fast way to get booted down the steps and institutionalized but she also knew there had to be some way to pique her interest enough to at least get her to open the door. A moment later, an idea came to her so she pressed the comm button again and waited for a reply.

With a groan of annoyance, the woman's voice came back through the speaker, "C'mon kid, get the hint already! I'm not interested in your nasty cookies or whatever scam you're running."

"Cookies?" Rey murmured. "No, it isn't that. I do have something you want though, something priceless!"

"Really? This should be interesting," the woman muttered to someone else.

Rey hesitated as the word came to her lips, not knowing what would happen next, but a moment later, she forced herself to say it anyway.

"Starshine."

There was only silence but she could hear that the comm was still on for a long moment, before it wasn't. For the briefest of moments, she feared she'd scared her off for good and imagined the ship would simply fire up its engines and take off, leaving her behind, not knowing the truth, but instead, the door beeped and slid open before her.

The same woman's voice called out from the inside, "Come on in, kid."

Rey took her first steps through the airlock and came out into the main living area of the Ark Angel II. As if in a daze, she caught herself gazing at the exposed support structures and amenities and was surprised to feel how alien, yet familiar it all looked. Then there were the scents in the air. Metallic grit wafted with earthy musk while blending with the sweet smell of spiced caff, which brought with it memories of her earliest days.

Rey was so awestruck by the influx of emotion and memories, she didn't notice the blaster that Dr. Aphra had pointed at her until the woman spoke. "Who the hell are you, kid?"

"Huh, oh!" Rey exclaimed.

She regarded the woman for a moment. She was trim and toned but with a bit of a drinker's belly on her. She wore tan trousers, knee-high boots and a leather vest laden with various patches and scraps of fabric sewn onto it. Her silver-grey hair was cropped just below her ears and had neon pink highlights of all things streaked through it, but her face, Rey recognized immediately.

She had a few soft wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, but her intense gaze left little doubt this was the tough-as-a-gundark rogue archaeologist she'd seen on the recording. Through her unwavering stare, however, Rey saw the echo of a deep sadness and felt all manner of confused emotions coming off of her as she held her hands up in surrender.

"I'm not here to hurt you. Like I said, I just want to talk," she replied.

Aphra gestured with her blaster, "Your weapons can go right over there first. Then we'll talk."

"Of course," Rey agreed. She slowly pulled her staff off her shoulder and set it on the worn couch. With equal delicacy, she slipped her blaster out of the holster and held it up for the Doctor to see before setting it down.

"Okay, then," Aphra said, lowering her blaster but not putting it away. "Come on over here and have a drink with me. You have my attention, kid."

Rey silently walked over to the bar when a silver protocol droid emerged from the side room. "Oh dear, so we're letting vagrants in now?" 

Rey gaped at her.

"Dee, no need to be rude. Geez, your personality matrix really does need to be tweaked, doesn't it?"

"I'm simply stating a fact, Mistress. We've had our fair share of undesirables try to kill us over the years. There is no such thing as being too careful," the droid harrumphed.

"Just get us a couple drinks, will ya'?" Dr. Aphra replied.

"Oh, very well," Dee said as she grabbed a couple of glasses and prepared the concoctions.

Aphra turned back to Rey. "You're brave kid, I'll give you that. I can admire that about a person; that's how you survive in this topsy-turvy galaxy. So out with it, what do you want to say to me?"

Rey froze. "Well, I... it might be better to just show you." She started to reach into her pocket when Aphra brought the blaster above the counter.

"Slowly, sweetheart. I really hope you're not an assassin because you're reaaaally bad at this."

Rey took offense at that, though she knew as a Jedi, she shouldn't, but it still stung. "It's just a holoprojector," she said as she put the small disk on the counter.

"Ah, so it's one of those kinds of scams," Aphra scoffed.

Then Rey pressed play.

"Hello Rey," Aphra's younger self, said. Rey felt the Force around them change the instant she saw the recognition in the woman's eyes. The message went on, "My name is Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, and well, I'm your mother..."

That's when the woman's eyes went from the holorecording to Rey's. With tears threatening to spill over, she lowered the blaster and protested with a cracking voice, "No... it can't be... not after all this time..."

Struggling for words herself, Rey said, "I believe it is. I don't remember much... but this ship is familiar to me, and my name is Rey."

"Oh my goodness, how curious?" The droid muttered as she pushed the drinks toward each of them. Dr. Aphra didn't hesitate as she downed her glass in a single gulp, but when Rey reached for hers, Dee stuck her with something sharp.

"Ow, what was that?"

"Dee, what the hell?" Aphra scolded the droid.

"It was only a drop of blood for the test. Such a claim as this has to be verified doesn't it? Give me a moment to run my analysis." The droid stood very still as her circuits buzzed with activity, then with a tone of newfound sympathy in her voice she said, "Mistress... it is true. Your little bean has returned to us."

"Wait, little... what?" Rey said, but when she looked over at the Doctor she saw only the outpouring of emotion from her aged face. A moment later, the woman stood, letting go of the blaster and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"You're back," she sobbed, "I thought I'd lost you, girl. I hoped for so long but I couldn't... I just..." she wasn't able to finish her sentence.

Rey returned the embrace with her own tears forming in her eyes as she said, "I didn't even know you existed until a week ago. I thought I knew who my parents were, but then I was given this message."

Dr. Aphra stepped back and regarded her as though she were most precious thing in the universe and the appreciation left Rey with a newfound sense of belonging after everything that has happened. She almost seemed to be inspecting her features by lightly pinching her cheeks and tapping her nose, playing with a lock of her hair.

"Wow, sweetheart... I'm glad you got my good genes, you're a looker, I'll give you that." A moment later an expression of distaste flashed crossed her face, "Ew, I actually considering hitting on you. That would've been really awkward."

Rey rolled her eyes, "It wouldn't have been the weirdest thing to happen to me, trust me."

"Ooh, that means you've got some good stories. Alright, Dee get me another drink," Aphra snapped her fingers at the droid who poured another drink without protest. Then, she sat back down at the bar and took a swig before adding, "So, lemme just take a guess here. Smuggler? Pirate? Mercenary? An upstanding galactic citizen without so much as a moving violation? Please, don't be that last one," she added as she took another sip.

"Jedi, actually," Rey replied.

Tangy alcohol exploded from her mother's mouth, ending in a frenzy of coughing.

"Ugh, really, again?" Rey said as she wiped the droplets from her cheeks.

"Kriffin hell," Aphra gasped as she put her glass back down. Once her coughing fit settled down, she looked up at Rey. "You're not kidding are you?"

"Afraid not," she replied. Then, to show her, Rey reached out with the Force and grabbed a bottle of liquor off the back wall behind the bar. She set it down in front of her mother without laying a finger on it. That seemed to convince her.

"Huh. Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised considering how you were conceived," Aphra casually stated.

"You mean, you believe I was conceived by the Force? I watched your message, after all."

Her mother gave her a sympathetic look. "Honestly, I'm still not sure what happened. The whole 'force conception theory' was mostly my dad's idea and, to be frank, it was the only one that kind of made sense at the time so we went with it. Figures you'd have super Force powers and all, but a Jedi? Never would've guessed that."

"Your dad, that's right, you told me about him in the message. Is he..." Rey asked, excited, but her mother's expression answered her question before she could finish asking.

"A couple years ago," Aphra said. "He went peacefully, if that's any consolation. He had more friends than I did, that's for sure, but for a family, well, I was all he had."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I would have liked to have met my grandfather," Rey said with remorse.

Her mother smirked at her playfully. "You did meet him, sweetie, you just don't remember. He adored you, and I'm sure wherever he is in the Force, or the Ithorian afterlife or whatever, he's glad to see you've found your way home.

With all she'd learned of the Force in a few short months, Rey didn't have difficulty believing that. The thought made her smile as her mother got up and shooed Dee out from behind the bar.

"What would you have me do, Mistress?" Dee asked, indignantly.

"I don't know, protocol up the place or something. Clean a counter somewhere, I just want to talk to my long lost daughter alone for a moment."

With a defeated sigh, Dee added, "Very well, I'll leave you to your 'catching up' session." The droid shuffled off into another area of the ship.

Rey watched her mother refill her drink, secretly wondering how many drinks she was going to down tonight, but decided to interject, "I'm sorry you had to endure not knowing where I was for so long. I don't know what it's like to lose a child, but I know something about losing people you care for."

Her mother stopped pouring long enough, to look up at her with an old sadness in her eyes. "What happened to you? Where have you been all this time?"

"Jakku, mostly," Rey admitted.

Just then, her mother grew visibly angry, but not at her. "Jakku... of course, it had to be that dustball of all kriffing planets!"

"That's right, you said you'd been there?"

"Yeah, that was where that homicidal maniac nearly killed us when he sent his assassin droid."

"What? Do you mean Triple-Zero?" Rey asked.

"That's right," her mother acknowledged.

"I remember the story from your message but I didn't realize it happened on Jakku. I really was there the entire time?"

Her mother took a swig from her new drink. "Yeah, I didn't want to be there either, but it was an important dealer I was trying to start a job with. I strapped you to my chest hoping for some, uh, emotional leverage, ya know?"

Rey raised her brow at that, prompting her mother to hold her hands up in protest.

"I know, I know... it was a shady, underhanded thing to do, but I did say I wasn't a nice person, remember? I'm a not exactly a shining beacon of morality, here and, and... I'm sorry if that lessens your view of me, being a Jedi and all."

"It's okay, mom," the word felt strange to say after so many years, but at the same time, it was endearing. "I had to do my own share of questionable things to survive on my own for so long, so I understand."

This time a strange expression came over her mother's face. "On your own, what do you mean?"

When Rey realized she had just dug up her past again, the very past she'd worked so hard to overcome and, thanks in part to Ben, succeeded in doing, she relayed the story to her mother.

"My parents, well, the people who I thought were my parents... sold me when I was only seven. They told me they were coming back for me and then, simply left."

For the briefest of moments, Rey didn't know if her sudden emotions were because of remembering the event all over again, or because of the visible heartbreak in her mother's eyes, but she took a swig of her own drink, almost choked, then set the drink back down again.

"They sold you? You mean, they just dumped you like garbage?" Her mother said, growing angry.

"Pretty much. They sold me for...," she looked at the glass in her hand, "...drinking money."

Her mother seemed to understand because she put her glass back down and instead grew angrier. "Those sons of bantha fodder, nerf milking, sleemo sucking..." she walked over to the end of the bar and grabbed her blaster before saying, "I did not endure years of heartache and false optimism hoping that you had a better life than I could provide just to have some dirty vagrants sell you off for booze! Let's go find them and put them out of their misery!"

"Mom!" Rey shouted. "Put the blaster down, will you? They're already dead anyway."

"Oh, they are?" She asked confused, adding a moment later, "Did you do it?"

"MOM!"

"What? I had to ask! I'm not saying I'd be mad at you or anything, I mean I'd fully understand if you did, but of course, you're a Jedi now, soooo..."

Rey stared dumbfounded at her mother. Of course, she wasn't entirely wrong, but that wasn't the point, it was the casual nature in which she wanted to track them down and kill them on principle alone that struck her. She thought about the other part of her mother's message where she had said she wasn't a 'nice' person and had thought it self-deprecating humor of some sort, but now she wondered.

"For what it's worth, I'm no stranger to violence either. I've been defending myself that entire time too, and I've gotten quite good at it," Rey admitted with some amount of pride.

Aphra smirked, "Well of course you have. You got that fighting spirit from me, kid."

"Of course that's where it came from," she replied sarcastically. "I also learned some tricks from Unkar Plutt, who bought me."

More liquor sprayed from her mother's mouth. "Unkar Plutt? That slimy sack of waste is the one who bought you?"

"You... know him too?"

"Yeah, I know that scum sucker... he tried to buy you off of me when I showed up for that meeting. Said he'd pay 300 portions or some nonsense. I told him to shove his portions somewhere else."

Rey found the image of her mother telling Plutt to shove off amusing. "Well, I'm glad someone did, because I had..."

Just then her comm chimed, shaking her out of her revery. She answered to a flurry of angry growls from Chewbacca.

"Wait, hold on a minute! You're under attack, by who?"

When the reply came both her and her mother shouted in unison, "Black Krrsantan?!"

"Oh, knifing Hell," Aphra cursed as she grabbed her blaster and made for the hatch. "Is that your big and furry, I'm guessing? He got a name?"

Rey felt a sudden surge of panic go through her as she remembered Chewie's initial reaction to learning Dr. Aphra was her mother. Ever so cautiously, she enunciated each syllable, "Chew-bac-ca???"

Her mother stared at her with disbelief. A moment later she burst out in maniacal laughter. "Ha, of course! Because of course, you'd be buddy-buddy with that particular flea biter."

"Hey! Chewbacca is my friend, thank you very much!"

Her mother held up a hand in defeat, "You know what? We can discuss this later, right now, I'd rather not have your friend kill my friend, 'kay?"

"Right, probably a good idea," Rey agreed. With the Force, she pulled her blaster and her staff back into her hands and followed her out of the Ark Angel.

If there was one thing that could be said about Wookie fights, Rey knew it was that you could hear them for miles away. Finding Chewbacca and Krrsantan wasn't difficult but when they did, Rey was both appalled and somewhat proud that the two of them hadn't actually killed each other yet.

Claws flew, fur came out in tufts and teeth snarled as the two Wookies went at each other, not quite able to best one another. Aphra arrived first, firing her blaster into the air as a warning.

"Hey, hey, hey, Kransty knock it off, will ya?"

Rey ran toward Chewbacca, making sure he saw the two of them together, "Chewie, stop it! We're okay, everyone's okay, I promise!"

The two of them looked in their general direction and begrudgingly shoved away from each other. Black Krrsantan growled with an accusatory finger pointed at Chewbacca.

Aphra spat, "No, no you were definitely not just messing around! Stop lying to my face, I thought we were past this, pal!"

Chewbacca growled an inappropriate retort to Aphra.

"Chewie! That was really uncalled for," Rey scolded the Wookie who shrank back and apologized under his breath. Black Krrsantan chuckled with amusement, prompting an obscene gesture from Chewbacca that nearly restarted the fight.

"Alright, enough!" Dr. Aphra shouted. "You, over there," she gestured for Chewbacca to step back toward the crates he'd dropped, then looked at Krrsantan, "You, over here! We need to talk, okay?"

He barked out an annoyed protest but grudgingly walked over. The closer he got, the more intimidating he became, and yet as Rey looked up at him a sense of familiarity washed over her.

"Hello, Mr. Krrsantan," she said timidly.

He gave her a curious look before glancing at Dr. Aphra, who holstered her blaster and interjected, "Kransty, if you're finished hugging your fur buddy over there, I need to introduce you to someone."

She looked over at her with a small smirk as she added, "This is Rey; she came back to us."

The menacing Wookie glanced between her mother and her, momentarily confused until he took a step closer. Rey, out of reflex, stepped back as he leaned in and sniffed the air around her head. A moment later his face lit up with surprise as he grumbled an honest question.

"Yes, I'd heard about you both from her message and, well, my co-pilot over there," Rey pointed to Chewbacca, who kicked a patch of grass trying not to look frustrated.

Krrsantan looked at the other Wookie with newfound amusement before turning back to rustle Rey's hair with his big furry paw, commenting about how she could 'do worse' when it came to the people she flew with. A backhanded compliment for sure, but it was one that made her smile all the same.

"Thanks, I guess." Rey looked at Chewbacca standing back almost in a pout. "Chewie, it's okay, you can come over here. We're allll friends now..." she looked at the other two before adding, "... right?"

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Fine, I guess since it's a happy day, we can all be 'friends'," she said sticking a finger in her mouth and pretending to gag.

Rey smacked her on the arm.

"I'm just kidding, I swear! I love Chewbacca, right? We're buds, we're pals, huh?" her mother jested.

Chewie grumbled a sarcastic agreement before reminding Rey that they were still on a timetable.

"Right, of course," she acknowledged.

"You have to leave already?" Her mother sad remorsefully.

Rey regarded her for a moment. "We are in the middle of war after all. I'm needed with the Resistance. We're still low on ships and supplies and the Falcon's the fastest one we've got."

That caught her mother's attention. "Whoa, wait a minute, the Falcon? You mean the _Millennium Falcon_? My little girl's actually flying that hunk of junk?"

"Hey! She is not a hunk of..." Rey stopped to consider her words before continuing, "... well, she's gotten us out of worse places before. The Falcon got me off Jakku, I'll have you know!"

"Wow, that's impressive... that it didn't blow up breaking Atmo! Geez, I guess Solo's really attached to that scrap heap."

That put a chill into Rey's mood. She shared a brief look at Chewie who clearly felt the same.

Dr. Aphra glanced between the two of them. "What? Did I miss something?"

Rey met her gaze. "Han died trying to save us on Starkiller base."

"Oh," was all her mother managed to say at first. She glanced at Chewbacca who nodded sadly. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I mean, I wasn't exactly friends with the guy, but he was a good rebel... I guess, and hey if he helped out my little bean, he can't have been all that bad, right?" She forced a half smirk, clearly trying to avoid any awkwardness and failing spectacularly at it.

"Okay, seriously, why am I a bean again?" Rey blurted out to change the conversation.

"Oh, that, right..." her mother grimaced as she explained, "It's kind of a family tradition. My dad always called me 'little boop' and I hated it! I just kinda called you 'little bean' and, well now you hate it too."

Rey smiled as she thought about it. "I don't hate it... just curious to know where it came from. No one's ever called me anything other than Rey, or 'girl' or 'hey you' before."

Her mother grinned at that. "Well, get used to it. I'm sure you'll be hearing it a lot more now."

"I hope to," Rey said with a flush of warmth in her chest.

After a moment of quiet reflection, Dr. Aphra looked back at the crates Chewbacca had been transporting. "Well, I understand if you have to leave, but the least we can do is help you load your stuff, and by 'we' I mean him." She pointed to Black Krrsantan who growled with obvious annoyance.

"Hey, don't give me that, furball! You started it, so you're going to help Chewbacca over there get this stuff back to their ship."

Both Wookies growled with disdain, prompting Rey to interject, "Chewie, please!" He gave her an irritated look before consenting a moment later. After that, the loading was a relatively short task and before long, Rey came to terms with the fact that she had to leave.

Standing on the loading ramp of the Falcon, she looked at Dr. Aphra one more time. "I suppose this is farewell for now."

Her mother returned the look with wetness in her eyes. "Hopefully not for so long this time, huh?"

"No, definitely not." Unbidden, Rey stepped down from the ramp and hugged her one more time.

"I can't tell you how much this meant to me, kid. I'm so happy that you're back." She pulled away, keeping her hands on Rey's shoulders. "I can't say I approve of your ship or the company you keep, but... as Krrsantan said, I guess you could do worse."

Rey smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, I'll try not to be too much of a goody-two-shoes."

"I can appreciate the effort. Just stay safe out there."

"I'll certainly try."

Black Krrsantan appeared from within and descended the ramp with a casual verbal barb over his shoulder to Chewbacca.

Of course Chewie replied in kind, much to Rey's amusement.

"Don't worry, you two don't have be friends. Chewie's been looking out for me just fine," she said in reassurance.

Black Krrsantan growled approvingly.

"Hey, kid," her mother said a moment before tossing her a small metallic chit.

"What's this?"

"Some credits to fix up this junker. I'll be damned if my girl gets spaced because her ship didn't hold together through hyperspace."

"Thanks. I'll be fine, really," Rey answered with amusement.

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that."

Rey gave her one last smile before walking up the ramp and closing it behind her.

Their departure was uneventful and before long they were back in hyperspace on their way to the resistance.

"I think we'll be alright Chewie," she added a moment later.

He grumbled in agreement. Ripper was back on his shoulder demanding treats, which he happily supplied.

"You did find the tracker right?"

Chewbacca laughed and handed it over to her. It was a small blinking beacon.

"Well let them follow for now. No reason to make it too difficult to keep tabs on me, right?"

Chewie laughed some more, then sat back and enjoyed a fresh cup of spiced brew.

Rey watched the blue lines of hyperspace drift by in peaceful waves as she reflected on everything that had happened in recent days.

She'd found her mother as well as a possible ally. She went home, her real home and now she had a war ahead of her to face, with an enemy who'd become... something else. She didn't know what Ben was at the moment, but she could hope.

Rebellions were built on hope after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After putting Dr. Aphra through so much emotional trauma, I had to end this story on a positive, so I wanted to bring a Post TLJ Rey into the story so that she could learn about her true birth mother and seek her out.

**Author's Note:**

> Though I don't personally subscribe to this theory of Rey's parentage, as a writer I was cursed with inspiration and wanted to see what kind of interplay a conflicted Dr. Aphra would have when confronted with an unexpected pregnancy and child she never asked for. While emotional and angsty in places I hope I balanced it out with humor in character for the Dr. Aphra comics.


End file.
